


Unexpected Love

by Emmajones830



Category: Sanditon (TV 2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Falling In Love, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Fun, Misunderstandings, One True Pairing, Slow Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-29
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-23 11:02:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 36,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23910532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emmajones830/pseuds/Emmajones830
Summary: Charlotte Heywood is feeling out of sorts and makes a brash decision that leads her to meeting the handsome Sidney Parker. Due to various reasons, they must pretend to be a couple. Will their masquerade turn into something real?
Relationships: Charlotte Heywood/Sidney Parker
Comments: 363
Kudos: 484





	1. Out of Character

**Author's Note:**

> This story is once again based on an idea someone suggested to me. I am hoping that this story turns into something fun and romantic. I am missing 90s romantic comedies. It is a modern setting for Sidlotte again. I feel like so many other fanfic authors have done such an incredible job with Sanditon continuations that modern is my current happy place. As always, I appreciate you all for reading. You really don't know how much it puts a smile on my face to read the comments on my other stories.

Charlotte stared out the window watching the people on the streets rushing home. This had become a routine Friday night, working late and ordering take out. She tapped the invitation that she had just received on her desk. The law firm she worked at was holding its fifth annual company picnic and she was contemplating whether or not she should go. Company events were important and meant a lot to her boss, but they were not mandatory. Typically, she was quite enthusiastic about building relationships with co-workers, but she had felt lost this year. She had started a new job, moved to a new town, and felt more isolated than she normally did. These days she preferred to focus on her work and stick to the routines she had become accustomed to. It made her sad to look at the family pictures on her desk. It reminded her of a happy time that seemed like so long ago. She didn’t recognize the person she had become. In addition to her feeling out of sorts, she also dreaded the thought of seeing Edward Denham. He was an attorney at the corporate office whom she had a brief fling with over the winter. The short affair didn’t mean much to her, but her pride had still taken a hit when he suddenly dumped her for a pretty blonde that had recently started working at the office. She knew he had the reputation of not keeping his pen out of the company ink. 

She felt ridiculous enough knowing that she had let the relationship go on longer than it should have. They had hooked up the night of the company Christmas party after she had been drinking a little more than she was used to. Unfortunately for her, she was sober during their other encounters and if his jokes weren’t bad enough, the lousy sex should have made her end it immediately. There were times she felt she should be nominated for an Oscar based on the performance she gave in bed. She would boost his ego and allow him to believe he rocked her world, and then she would head home. Thinking about it now, she realized how pathetic she really had been. Loneliness can lead you to make poor decisions and Edward had definitely been a bad one.

When she had been offered her current job she understood that it would be a sacrifice because her family would be too far away to visit regularly. She figured that the experience would be worth it though and jumped at the chance to work for Eli Livingston and Partners. It was her first year practicing law and she would be able to gain knowledge from some of the best lawyers in the country. Of course, she almost threw it all away by sleeping with Edward. Now here she was wondering whether or not she wanted to face him and his current tart or avoid the situation altogether. She felt like an outright idiot and __ started to bang her head lightly on the desk.

Her phone suddenly interrupted her pity party of one and she saw that her sister Alison was trying to FaceTime her.

“Hey Ali!” Charlotte answered trying to seem more jovial than she actually was.

“What’s wrong with you?” Alison said right away. She could see that her sister looked rather frustrated.

“Nothing. I’m fine.” Charlotte lied.

“If you are fine, why do you have a red mark on your forehead? You look like you’ve been banging your head against a wall.” Alison was very observant, which Charlotte both loved and hated about her sister.

“It was more like my desk.” Charlotte confessed as she slouched down and allowed her head to hit the desk once more.

“What’s wrong? Maybe I can help.”

“We have a company picnic coming up. People will be bringing their families and significant others. I know Edward will be there with his new girlfriend. I shouldn’t care about that, but I just don’t want to show up alone. I don’t want to deal with the relationship questions or have Edward think I can’t get over him, his ego is already big enough.”

“Charlotte, when have you ever cared about having a man? That has never been who you are. You also have never cared about what an ex thought.”

“I know! That is one reason why I am so frustrated. I guess I’m just feeling insecure. Maybe I need to take some vacation time and go home for a bit. I miss you guys.” Charlotte always felt safe being completely honest with Alison. They were close in age and thick as thieves. “Maybe this ‘Charlotte Goes on a Big City Adventure’ should have waited.”

“You and I both know that you are too good for this town. I can tell you that sitting in an empty office, after hours, isn’t going to help you either. You need to find your happy place again.”

“I don’t know. I just feel like everything has been so upside down since I decided to come here. Insecurity and loneliness do not suit me, Alison.” Charlotte felt all out of sorts. “I just want to meet a decent guy.”

“You aren’t going to find a decent guy until you have yourself worked out first, so let’s deal with one problem at a time. I have an idea, but before you say anything, hear me out.” Alison directed her.

“I always get nervous when you say that you have an idea.”

“This is going to sound crazy, but why don’t you hire someone?”

“What on earth do you mean hire someone?” Charlotte was flabbergasted.

“Like an escort.” Alison whispered with a goofy grin on her face.”You don’t need to get yourself in a relationship right now, but it would help you at the moment to pretend you are in one.”

“I am not going to hire a prostitute to go with me to a company picnic. You have lost your mind!”

“I prefer the term escort and you don’t have to sleep with them. Just hire them for the day. They’ll worship the ground you walk on for however long you need, you’ll forget about that disastrous mistake you made with Edward and all will be right in the world.”

“Why does it sound like you are talking from experience? Do not tell me you have done this before!” Charlotte knew her sister was one to think outside the box, but the possibility that she had hired an escort was something that never would have crossed her mind. 

Alison started laughing uncontrollably as Charlotte looked into her phone with her mouth agape.

“Don’t look at me like that! I didn’t have sex with him. Remember when Kate got married last summer in London? I didn’t want to go alone after that fiasco with William, so I hired someone. It honestly was a fabulous time and I think he would be perfect for you.”

Charlotte started biting her nail, a nervous habit she had been trying to kick, and thought quickly about the pros and cons. It would be completely out of character for her to do something like this, but it would solve her problem.

“What happens if someone finds out? I’m a lawyer, Alison.”

“Yeah, so you will know how to get out of any trouble you may find yourself in.” Alison laughed. “His name is Mark Babington. I’m going to text you his number and a photo once we hang up. I promise you that he’ll be great.”

“You can send it to me, but I don’t know if I’ll use it.”

“Charlotte, desperate times call for desperate measures.”

“I don’t know if I am that desperate, at least not yet. I’ll think about it though.” Charlotte smiled, shaking her head.

“Good! I love you! Talk to you later.” Alison waved goodbye.

“Love you too, troublemaker!” Charlotte blew a kiss into the phone.

A few minutes later Charlotte received a text just as Alison had promised. She looked at the photo that had popped up on her phone. Mark Babington was cute, but wasn’t her type. He had kind eyes and she didn’t think she would find herself to be in any danger of being tempted by him. 

As Charlotte walked home, she thought of Alison’s suggestion, and tried to push the legalities out of her mind. She tried to picture what it would be like and determined that it couldn’t be any worse than some of the dates she had been on. Charlotte stopped outside of her apartment and watched as a couple exited the building. She had always been independent and had focused on her career, but in the past couple of years she had started to long for a partnership. A decent man who would support her, love her, and maybe bring her coffee in bed once in a while. It was the little things in relationships that she really missed. By the time she made it to her apartment door she had decided that having some companionship for a day, even if she had to pay for it, would be worth it. 

Charlotte decided to call Mark before she lost her nerve. As she dialed the number she could feel butterflies starting to form in her stomach and for a moment wished her self-confidence was in a better state than it currently was. If the Edward dumping had happened the year prior, she wouldn’t have cared about going to a picnic alone, but this year had been tough and she couldn’t bear it.

“Hello?” A nice sounding voice answered the phone.

“Hi, is this Mark Babington?”

“Yes, it is.” He replied coolly. 

“I was given your number by a friend and I am inquiring on how I can go about obtaining your services.” Charlotte said nervously.

“It depends on what services you are looking for. I can give you a rundown of prices and then depending on what you want done in the bed-“

“Oh, I don’t need anything done in the bedroom. I am just looking for a date for a work thing. It’s pretty pathetic actually.” Charlotte explained. She was relieved this conversation was happening over the phone because she was sure her face was turning beet red. 

“No worries. I can take care of whatever you need.”

Charlotte and Mark spoke for several minutes as she provided the details of the company picnic, how long she would need him for and the issue of payment. She was pleased with how easy he was to talk to and after their conversation she actually felt good about the choice she had made. They had agreed on a place to meet and she had told him what she would be wearing. He made note of it and they scheduled to meet an hour beforehand so he could find out a few more details about her. He was determined to get to know her a little bit before the picnic, so there could be a familiarity between them.

Charlotte texted Alison later that night and told her that she had taken her advice. Charlotte told her she would check in with her after the picnic and let her know how it went. 

————-

One week later Mark was feeling ill and he didn’t know if he should cancel his plans with Charlotte. During their short phone conversation, he had felt a connection with her. Even though he didn’t know her, he could tell she needed a nice time out. It was Friday night though and he still had a light fever. He didn’t know if it would be gone by the morning and he wondered if he should push through it.

“I told you man, just cancel. You look horrific. No woman in their right mind would want you near them in this state.” His friend Crowe said as he reached for more chips.

“She just seemed so lovely on the phone. I don’t want to do that to her.”

“Who cares? You don’t know her. You get too attached to these clients of yours, even the ones you haven’t met.”

“I strive to make women feel special and everyone deserves that type of feeling once in a while.” Mark said as he tried not to cough.

“Sure, like you don’t benefit from it.” Crowe rolled his eyes.

“Benefit from what?” Sidney Parker asked as he strolled into the room. He had just come back from a run and his shirt was soaked in sweat.

“Oh, Mark is doing the whole ‘hooker with a heart’ routine.” Crowe teased.

“I don’t know how much longer you think this business can continue. We aren’t college boys hard up for cash anymore and it’s time we focus on our legitimate work.” Sidney said as he took a bottle of water from the refrigerator. 

“You guys do not have to believe my intentions are true, but seriously, I’m in a bind here. I don’t need my reputation ruined.” Mark said as he coughed again. “And I do truly do what I can to make sure these women leave satisfied.”

“You look like hell. I have to agree with Crowe here and say that you should just cancel. She’ll have to understand or maybe find a man in a more conventional way.” Sidney decided to sit as far away from Mark as he could. He didn’t want to catch whatever germs his friend was currently carrying.

“I can’t cancel on her the night before we are supposed to meet.” Mark rubbed his burning eyes. An idea suddenly came to him that he believed would solve this problem.

“Sidney,” Mark stared at him.

“No! Absolutely not!” Sidney shook his head. They had been friends for a very long time and Sidney had recognized the look at Mark was currently giving him. “No!”

“Please Sidney! You know I wouldn’t ask you if I didn’t have to.”

“I haven’t had a client in six months. I can’t just jump back in. My skills are rusty.” Sidney said.

Crowe let out a loud belly laugh. “I doubt your skills are rusty. I heard the noises that woman from the club was making last month.”

“I don’t mean sex you fool. I have never had a problem in that department.” Sidney raised his eyebrows and gave Crowe a cheeky smile. ”I mean the whole pretending to be a boyfriend act. I’m just not in the mood for that. Why do you think I’ve been turning down jobs?” Sidney explained as he searched the pantry for a snack. “I’m just over these games, both professionally and personally.”

“Are you going to swear off women altogether?” Crowe asked.

“It hasn’t gotten that futile yet, but I just don’t care enough to put effort into a pretend relationship or a real one.” Sidney responded.

“So Mark’s heart is too big to say no to women and yours isn’t big enough to say yes?” Crowe observed.

“Basically,” Sidney replied. 

“Sidney, it’s only a few hours with some girl at an office party. I’m sure you can handle it.” Mark begged. “She is just a woman who doesn’t want to face her ex.” Mark pleaded.

“Hmm, let me think. Should I spend my Saturday with some poor soul who isn’t brave enough to see her ex or stay at home watching football? “ Sidney put his hands in the air, acting as though he were weighing his options.

“What happened to the Sidney that would always help me out?”

“He got older.” Sidney turned on the television believing that the conversation was over. 

“Speaking of being older, remember when I helped you out of that bind with old Mrs. Smith?”

Sidney closed his eyes and sighed loudly. The memory of Mrs. Smith’s bad breath rushed back immediately. She had been one of Sidney’s previous clients, but after a few times no amount of money could tempt him to be with her. Mark had been nice enough to step in and take over.

“You would bring that one up.”

Mark smiled widely and knew he was about to get the answer he wanted.

“Fine, I’ll go.” Sidney said as he rolled his eyes. “Do I have to have sex with her?”

“Only if that is something that you choose to do. She isn’t paying for it.” Mark laughed.

“I highly doubt this woman will tempt me to do anything for free.” Sidney stood up feeling as though he had been duped.


	2. It's a Small World

It was a beautiful Saturday morning that Charlotte awoke to and she was excited that the weather was going to be clear all day. She had agreed to meet Mark at 10:00 a.m., which gave them enough time to meet and make it to the picnic on time. Charlotte put on a long, flowery skirt with a V-neck t-shirt. She wondered for a second if it may have been a little too low cut for a work event, but knew how much the shirt flattered her figure, so she kept it on. 

Charlotte left early and walked to the coffee shop where they had chosen to meet. The nervousness in her stomach started the moment her feet hit the pavement. Never in a million years would she have ever considered obtaining the services of an escort and even though she knew she wasn’t hiring him for anything sexual, it seemed very strange. Alison never led her wrong though, so she trusted that this would end up going fine. Mark sounded nice enough on the phone and there was no air of judgment in his tone.

The coffee shop was busier than usual, but Charlotte decided to brave the line. She still had plenty of time before Mark was supposed to show up and knew she needed more caffeine in her body if she was going to make it through the day. A man waiting on his drink gave her a smile and she wondered how many times a smile like that could lead to something more. She had always been set up on dates and never had much luck meeting someone randomly. There was no doubt in her mind that once she was through with this picnic that she would make a list of things that made her happy and new things she wanted to try. 

The barista called out her name, interrupting her train of thought, which was fine because she needed to focus on her day ahead. She grabbed her hot tea and as she walked out the door her phone pinged. Just as she looked at her phone, a man came barreling through the door and ran into her.

“Sorry.” He said as he continued on his way to the back of the line, not even bothering to look at Charlotte.

Luckily, the amount of tea that had spilled on her was not that much, so the heat of it didn’t cause her any harm. When she made it outside she assessed the damage done to her shirt. There were a few wet areas and at the moment she was glad she had not worn the white t-shirt she had been considering. She hoped the tea wouldn’t be that noticeable once it dried. The tea stains started to dampen her mood and the optimism she felt upon waking seemed to be dissipating with every passing minute. She was starting to doubt herself. 

Charlotte waited for some time before she decided to check her phone again, no messages and Mark was now officially ten minutes late. She sighed and took a drink of her tea. The door to the coffee shop opened and the man who had ran into her emerged eating a chocolate croissant. Charlotte’s patience was wearing thin and she marched over to him.

“You do realize that you made me spill a hot beverage on myself when you bumped into me earlier, right?” She snapped. “In the future you may want to actually make sure someone is okay instead of just giving an empty apology and walking away.”

Sidney finished chewing his food before he looked up to gaze at Charlotte. Her large, chocolate eyes were staring at him in a disapproving manner and he was immediately taken aback. 

“Well?” She said, her pouty lips distracting him from her words.

“Well, maybe you should watch where you are going instead of looking at your phone?” He replied in an irritated tone. 

“So it’s my fault that I glanced at my phone? How was I to know that I was about to be trampled on?”

“That’s where the part about you not looking at your phone would have helped. You would have seen me coming in. The doors are tinted, so it isn’t like I can see who is on the other side,” he said as he took every inch of her in. The tea stains were already drying. “I don’t see anything wrong with you, but if you want another sorry, I am sorry. Now excuse me.”

Charlotte watched as he walked towards the shade of a nearby tree. She didn’t know if she was more upset by the tea on her shirt or his response to running into her. She put on her sunglasses and stole another peek of him. A man who looks like that would think that nothing is his fault, she thought to herself.

She looked at her phone again and realized that if she didn’t start heading to the train now that she would never make it to the picnic. Charlotte looked around and didn’t see Mark anywhere. She took out her phone, sent him a quick text and stared at her phone waiting for a reply. The urge to go home and crawl back into bed was starting to sound like a good option.

Sidney finished his croissant and threw his bag in the trash. He couldn’t help but look over at Charlotte, who was now sitting at one of the outdoor tables. There was a slight twinge of guilt that he felt about accidentally spilling her tea, but the attitude that she came at him with wasn’t something he was in the mood for. His cell phone rang and pushed Sidney back to reality. It was Mark asking where he was.

“I’m at the coffee shop. I had to grab something to eat.” Sidney tried to explain his tardiness.

“You are late, man! She is there waiting for you. I can’t just text her back that I won’t be the one coming so hurry up and find her.” Mark yelled at him.

“Fine, what is she supposed to be wearing?”

“She told me she would have on long skirt with flowers on it, light blue t-shirt, and holding a purple bag” Mark said. ”She also has long-“

“Brown hair,” Sidney finished the sentence.

“Yes, how do you know?”

“I’m staring at her right now.” Sidney bit down lightly on his lower lip before exhaling. He knew immediately that this day had just gotten harder. ”I’ll talk to you later!”

Sidney took a deep breath, counted to five and let it out to release the tension he was feeling. He confidently walked over towards her.

“Charlotte?” He asked, trying to speak in the nicest tone he could find.

“Yes?” She said, visibly confused. He could tell she was still quite irritated.

“My name is Sidney. Mark sent me in his place. He isn’t feeling well.” Sidney watched as a look of disappointment fell upon her face.

“Are you kidding me?”

“No, I’m not.”

Charlotte shook her head and didn’t know for sure how to react to this information. After a few beats Charlotte finally looked up at Sidney, who had an awkwardly fake smile on his face. His dark eyes were focused on her and she felt as though they could see through her, which she found irritating. The shape of his mouth and the fullness of his lips was also a distraction she didn’t need at the moment. 

“Okay, I don’t have time to figure something else out. Let’s go before we are late for the train.” Charlotte said as she stood abruptly. “Come on”

Charlotte motioned for him to follow her and he quickly obeyed. He was a few steps behind her as they walked and he couldn’t help but notice the way her skirt hugged her in all the right places. The curves of her body were heavenly and reminded him of something he would have seen in a vintage Playboy magazine. Sidney suddenly reminded himself why he was there and stopped his train of thought. He refused to think of her in that manner any further. Her body may be pleasing to look at, but so far her personality was lacking.

As they took their seats in the train, Charlotte had the chance to look over her date for the day. He was distracted by a scene outside the window. He seemed like a more serious man as she observed him staring out the window intently. There was tightness in his jaw and she could tell he wasn’t happy to be taking Mark’s place. Even with the annoyed expression on his face, she could still see that he was quite a handsome man and though it pained her to admit it, most likely the most attractive man she had ever laid eyes on. She assumed that demands for his services were probably high and that he probably thought that this charade was beneath him. Suddenly, he looked at her and she felt embarrassed for getting caught staring at him. Their eyes locked and she had this feeling they already knew each other. He broke his gaze and looked back out the window. 

“So, Charlotte, tell me a bit about yourself.” He instructed her as he eyed her once again. He could see her start to fidget and realized the question must have made her uncomfortable as Charlotte started to tell him about her family, her face lit up and he could tell how much she truly adored them. It was quite endearing. Sidney was quite confused why someone like her would be hiring a date. She was a natural beauty and he had no doubt she could easily find someone willing to accompany her anywhere she requested. After several minutes of learning about the Heywoods of Willingden, Sidney interrupted her. 

“Your family sounds nice, but you didn’t really tell me anything about yourself.”

“There isn’t much to say. I’m 28 and I work too much.” Charlotte sighed and looked rather melancholy. She pictured this man before her having great tales to tell while all she ever did was work. 

“What do you like to do for fun?” He nudged her again.

“I like to read.” Charlotte realized how boring she seemed. “Honestly, I just haven’t had that much time to myself recently. I have kind of forgotten what I like to do. I know that sounds pathetic.”

There was something about the vulnerability in her voice that made Sidney want to reassure her. He leaned forward and placed his hand on hers. “I know what it’s like to lose one’s self.”

He gave her a small smile and then sat back in his own seat. She felt comforted, but didn’t know if this was an honest moment between them or something she paid for. Charlotte could feel Sidney’s touch lingering on her skin. She rubbed her hand where his had just been, bewildered by the electricity that she had felt by the quick caress. 

The rest of their journey consisted of small talk as they talked about mundane subjects, such as the weather and recent news stories. Sidney was used to listening to women talk, but something about Charlotte was different. It amazed him how many of his clients just wanted someone to listen to them. They wanted to feel seen and heard. The desolation his clients felt made it harder with each passing month for him to keep up this line of work, especially when his own company had taken off. 

The train stopped and it didn’t take them long to make it to the park where the picnic was being held. The park was located on top of a small hill and overlooked the sprawling countryside. 

“I’ll grab us a drink.” Sidney said as he spied a table with some wine glasses nearby. Charlotte smiled and thanked him. He quickly grabbed the drinks and walked back to where he had left her. She had wandered over to a viewpoint and there was a slight breeze that was blowing through her hair. She was smiling brightly at the lovely landscape before her and for a moment she looked like a different person. The moment he walked over she seemed to tense up again and her smile quickly disappeared. 

“It’s beautiful here. It’s a great place for a picnic.” Sidney said, attempting to make small talk. 

“It really is. You can smell all the flowers on the breeze.” She looked at him smiling slightly. He handed her the small glass of wine he had brought her. “I don’t think I should be drinking.”

“If you want people to believe we are a couple, you need to relax a little. One glass won’t hurt.” Sidney insisted. Charlotte pursed her lips slightly and realized that he was right. She needed to soften up if this day was going to go well. She could feel how tightly wound she was and took a sip of wine. 

“I do love a good red wine.” She said as she glanced up at him. Charlotte felt rather awkward as she looked at him. She hoped he couldn’t see her wandering eyes behind her sunglasses. Sidney was resting his tan, muscular forearms against the grey concrete wall that was separating them from the small drop off. Her eyes moved from his arms to his large hands. The sleeves from his white button up linen shirt were rolled up to his elbows. Charlotte felt herself start to feel a little warmer and took another sip of wine. 

“Charlotte!” The sound of Edward’s voice stopped Charlotte’s train of thought instantly.

Sidney turned around and saw Edward Denham walking towards them. He noticed that Charlotte’s body had tensed up and he placed his hand on the small of her back. The tender touch surprised Charlotte and she glanced at him. Sidney gulped down the rest of his wine and gave Charlotte an odd smile.

“Edward” Charlotte tried to look pleased. 

“I believe you know Clara. She is a secretary at the corporate office.” Edward said as he drank a glass of wine without taking a breath. Charlotte could tell it had not been his first.

“Yes, I don’t think we have actually been introduced before.” Charlotte smiled as she extended her hand to Clara. “It is nice to put a face to the name.”

Sidney’s hand found its way around Charlotte’s waist and he pulled her closer to him. 

“I’m sorry, this is Sid-“ Charlotte began to introduce him. 

“Sidney Parker! I haven’t seen you in ages. I was just talking to your brother, Tom.” Edward said in a friendly tone. “I didn’t realize Charlotte had another Sanditon connection.”

Charlotte could feel her stomach sink. She looked at Sidney who smiled slightly at her. She could see Edward’s eyes make their way down to where Sidney’s hand was currently resting.

“It has, Edward. I wasn’t expecting to see you here. I thought you had gone to Italy.”

“Oh, that was years ago. You are really out of the loop when it comes to Sanditon news, aren’t you?” Edward eyed him.

“There is no point in keeping up with the news of a town that I barely visit.” Sidney replied. 

“Excuse me for a moment.” Edward said as he walked away with Clara. 

Sidney started laughing out loud and just shook his head.

“What is so funny?” Charlotte inquired. 

“Edward? Edward Denham is the ex you were trying to avoid?” Sidney chuckled. 

“Yes! You don’t need to make it worse than it already is.” Charlotte could feel herself getting irritated. 

“I’m sorry. I just can’t imagine that buffoon attracting any woman of substance.”

Charlotte didn’t know if she should take his comment as an insult or a compliment. She assumed it was a good sign he thought her too good for Edward, but the feeling of humiliation was very present.

“How do you know him anyways?” Charlotte asked. 

“We grew up together. Our families have been in business for ages.” 

“This is horrible.” Charlotte shook her head.

“I think it is about to get worse.” Sidney said.

Charlotte looked in the direction where Sidney’s eyes were already aimed. It seemed as though Edward was heading back to them in slow motion. Clara had been replaced with Charlotte’s boss, Eli Livingston, and a tall blonde man whom she did not recognize. 

“Oh God…” Sidney and Charlotte both said in unison. 

“Charlotte!” Eli greeted her with open arms. “You never told me you were dating one of the Parker brothers.”

“Sir, you know we don’t bring personal relationships into the workplace.” Charlotte said quickly, feeling horrible for lying. 

“Nonsense and I told you to stop calling me ‘sir’,” Eli said to her. He moved his gaze towards Sidney. “Your brother has told me so much about you. I am sure Charlotte has spoken about me. She is one of our brightest new stars at the firm.”

“I’m not surprised. She is quite wonderful.” Sidney beamed and looked at Charlotte. He leaned over and kissed the side of her head. 

“Sidney, I am surprised to see you here.” The tall blonde man said in a confused manner. He appeared to be studying Sidney’s every move.

“That would be my fault. I begged him to come. He would rather have been watching football, which he has reminded me several times already.” Charlotte could feel the tension between the two men and decided to chime in. “I’m sorry, we haven’t met. I am Charlotte.”

“My name is Tom. Tom Parker, I am Sidney’s brother.” Tom’s eyes were still fixed on Sidney. “I am assuming you are Sidney’s girlfriend?”

“Yes, she is.” Sidney replied sternly “Tom, I am just as surprised as you are. I thought this picnic was just for employees.” 

“Oh, I invited your brother and a few other clients that we have a longer relationship with. We like nurturing our business relationships.” Eli informed him.

“Charlotte, Tom and Sidney are the brothers behind the Austen Project. I am sure you already knew that though.” Eli explained. The Austen Project was an opulent real estate development being built by the sea and it finally hit her why the name Sanditon had sounded so familiar. Edward had been assisting Eli with the paperwork and had mentioned it a couple of times to her in passing.

“Yes, Sidney had mentioned it a few times, but we don’t really mix business and pleasure.” She smiled.

“We are having our SpringFest in Sanditon next weekend and the rest of our family would love to meet you, Charlotte.” Tom said. 

“I’m sure the festival will be great, but Charlotte and I will have to decline.” Sidney glared at Tom. 

“You know, I think it would be a really good idea to have one of our own see everything that you are accomplishing down there. It will help us with meeting all your needs.” Eli said. “Charlotte you should go.”

“This was Edward’s project. I would hate to interfere with that.” Charlotte looked at Edward who was disengaged from the conversation. “Edward?”

“I don’t mind Charlotte. Clara and I are flying out of town next weekend.” Edward replied before excusing himself entirely. 

“Don’t worry. I won’t have you working all weekend. You can go down on Thursday, Tom can show you around, you can get the feel of the work going on down there, and then you’ll have the rest of the weekend to spend with your boyfriend.” Charlotte could tell by the way that Eli talked that he had the entire weekend planned already and she knew she could not refuse him when he was in this type of mood.

“And if I may add, my wife has been longing to see Sidney for quite some time. We are throwing her a surprise party on Friday and she would be so pleased if Sidney was there.” Tom said. “Sidney, why don’t you two come down? We can catch up.”

Charlotte and Sidney looked at each other with a pleading in their eyes. Both of them hoping the other one could somehow get themselves out of this situation. Charlotte removed Sidney’s hand from her waist and held his hand by her side. She squeezed it tightly trying to signal to him to speak. 

“You know, that sounds lovely. We’ll go.” Sidney said, trying to smile. Charlotte stood there in shock. Tom and Eli both looked very content and quickly said their goodbyes as they went to talk to another group. 

“See you next weekend, Sidney!” Tom said as he walked away. 

Charlotte looked at Sidney and he could tell she was quite furious. 

“What the hell was that? Why did you agree to go?” Charlotte inquired. 

“Your boss wasn’t going to take no for an answer and I realized this whole situation could work out in my favor.”

“Work out in your favor? I was only paying you to be my date today. Now I am going away with you for a weekend.”

“Well, you’re not paying me anymore and you couldn’t afford it if you were.” Sidney said as he finally released her hand. “I did you a favor and now you are about to do one for me in return.”

“A favor for a favor?” Charlotte bit her lip lightly as she tried rush through the ways this could all possibly go wrong. 

“Yes, or I could go tell Edward that you have screamed his name while we are in bed.” Sidney laughed. “That does make me feel quite unsure about our relationship. Plus, you are kind of stuck with me. Your boss really wants you to go to Sanditon.”

“You are insufferable.”

“So do we have a deal?” Sidney lifted up his sunglasses and put them on his head.

“Deal” Charlotte said as she furrowed her brow and gave Sidney a death stare. 

  
  



	3. Off to Sanditon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sidney and Charlotte make their way to Sanditon for SpringFest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I humbly request your forgiveness for the length of time it has taken me to update this. Here we go. :)

“Thanks for letting me borrow your car,” Sidney said to Crowe as he shoved another pair of jeans into his duffel bag. “I really appreciate it.”

“Just treat her well,” Crowe said as he leaned against Sidney’s bedroom door, wearing the same clothes as the night before. His grungy hair was hanging in his face and he appeared to be overly tired.

“Treat that death trap of a car well? You should be treating Charlotte better and renting a better vehicle.” Mark chimed in. He knew the state of Crowe’s car and thought that no respectable lady should ever ride in it. “I don’t know why you are going cheap on this.”

“For your information, I’m not. It’s a busy weekend and there was nothing available.” Sidney said in an annoyed tone. “I called every rental company in the county. I don’t know what you expect me to do.”

“I don’t see why you don’t just take the train and then Uber the rest of the way,” Mark said matter-of-factly. He was in the exact opposite shape as Crowe was currently. He was showered, cleaned, and dressed to impress.

“I have told you, I want an escape plan. If things start to go south while I’m there I want to know I can leave at any time. I don’t want to have to wait around on someone else.” Sidney zipped up his bag and walked past Mark into the living room. Crowe and Mark followed him as he marched out. He tossed his bag onto the floor and grabbed a glass of water. After drinking the cool water, he went towards the table at the front door to grab Crowe’s keys and throw on his watch.

“You always think so negatively. You may end up having a great time.” Mark said as he made himself comfortable on the couch. He opened up his planner and started to write. Crowe plopped himself in the armchair nearby.

“Or he may end up having a weekend from hell with his insane family.” Crowe laughed and turned around to look at Sidney. “You are very brave to be showing up in Sanditon with a woman.”

“How are you planning on using her to your advantage, if I may ask?” Mark asked. “You have kind of been stuck in your situation for some time, and I just don’t see that changing.”

“Who is the one being negative now?” Sidney winked at Mark. “If I can convince Mary that I am madly in love, I am sure she could convince Tom to just leave me alone and that his master plan will never work. She got him to lay off me for a bit some time ago, but I’ve never had a girlfriend to bring home either. This may seal it.”

“You are fooling yourself, man. There is no way Tom will ever stop trying to marry you off. If I was Charlotte, I would run the other way. She may end up falling off one of those famous Sanditon clifftops.”

Sidney knew that Crowe was kind of right in his observations. He knew that no harm would come to Charlotte, but his brother Tom had certain plans for Sidney’s future, and needless to say, Sidney had not been complying with them. Their relationship wasn’t the greatest at this point in time, but his sister-in-law Mary seemed to hold what there was of it together. Sidney hadn’t been in Sanditon for ages, but Mary always called him twice a week to check up on him. She wore her heart on her sleeve and was the only person in Sanditon he would like to see, other than his little nieces and nephews.

“Charlotte’s fine. That’s the other positive about this woman; she works for Tom’s attorney. There is no way Tom would ever want to jeopardize that relationship. The amount of influence and the connections that Eli Livingston has are tremendous and Tom wouldn’t mess with that. He may think this is a good match.” Sidney said proudly. 

“Does Charlotte know about any of your family history?” Mark asked as he raised an eyebrow.

“No, we didn’t talk about it on the way back from the picnic. She had started to read a book she carries with her everywhere, and I dozed off.”

“Wow, exciting stuff, Sidney!” Crowe exclaimed. “You sure know how to keep women intellectually stimulated.”

“I don’t get paid to stimulate their mind,” Sidney smirked as he grabbed his bag off the floor and headed towards the front door.

“I think you need to tell her so she knows what to prepare for,” Mark told him.

“It’s going to be fine,” Sidney assured him. “I’ll text you when I get there. Try not to get into too much trouble while I am gone.”

“I think you’re the one that needs to worry about trouble,” Mark said as he watched Sidney leave. Once the front door was closed, he turned to Crowe. “He’s being too confident.”

“Oh, this is going to go poorly, no doubt in my mind.” Crowe laughed.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Charlotte had given Sidney her address and was waiting nervously for him to arrive. He had convinced her that they would drive to Sanditon, which she still wasn’t that sure of. She would have preferred public transportation instead of a couple of hours stuck in a car with a stranger. Well, he wasn’t a complete stranger, but she still didn’t know him. This whole idea of his was ridiculous, but she knew the relationship her boss had with the Parkers of Sanditon, and didn’t want to make yet another mistake that could sidetrack her career. She could easily pretend to be dating Sidney. It couldn’t be that hard. He was very easy on the eyes, and he seemed nice enough. There was the slight issue of her body reacting in a manner she wasn’t quite used to whenever he was around. The few times he had touched her gently at the picnic made her feel like she could burst into flames. She didn’t know if it was him she was reacting to or the normal physical needs one has. Considering that Edward had been the last person she was with, she knew she was in need of a really good shag.

She double-checked her suitcase to make sure she had an outfit for every possible occasion. She didn’t want to end up stuck there without something to wear. There was a storm that was supposed to pass through this morning, but the weekend should be sunny and clear. She was actually a little excited about going out of town, even if it was work-related. It would be nice to get out of the city for a bit.

She looked at herself in the mirror to make sure she looked okay. She thought that some sun would do her some good, but overall she was pleased. She had pulled her hair into a messy bun, had her favorite pair of denim shorts on with a light floral tank top. She was bringing her oversized blue cardigan just in case the car was too cold for her liking. As she put on some berry lipstick, she heard a car pull up and a couple of minutes later the buzzer rang. She grabbed her suitcase and rushed downstairs to see Sidney standing there. He was wearing a white t-shirt and jeans. It looked like he had stepped out of Rebel Without a Cause, minus the red jacket. _Why is this guy always wearing white shirts? She thought to herself._ She always found a man in a white shirt attractive. She didn’t really understand why, but it was her thing. As her thoughts started to wander into inappropriate territory, she noticed the car that was behind him and those thoughts immediately left her consciousness.

“What is that?” She walked around him with her suitcase in tow, not allowing him to take it from her. “Please don’t tell me that you think we are driving to Sanditon in that.”

“Well, good morning to you too! I can tell you slept well.” Sidney smiled at her sarcastically.

“When you said we were driving to Sanditon I expected it to be in a car that could at least get us there. This doesn’t even look like it can make it up the block!” Charlotte stood there with a stunned look on her face as she stared at the 1979 Morris Marina. The car was red and dented with some minor rust spots. It definitely looked like it had seen better days and Charlotte couldn’t believe she would have to ride in this car not only there but on the way back. “Where did you even find this hunk of junk?”

“Hey! Don’t talk poorly about Priscilla.” Sidney had made his way to the car already and tapped the roof lightly. “This is my friend Crowe’s car. It was his dad’s and it has seen my friends and me through many days. I am sure it will be fine.”

“Priscilla? You guys named the car?”

“No, his dad did. He was a big Elvis fan.” Sidney smiled and allowed Charlotte a bit more time to process that this was the vehicle they would travel in. He took a second to look at her. She seemed prettier than he had remembered even though it had only been a few days since they had seen each other. He realized that he liked seeing her a bit riled up, and she had the same look on her face as she did when he told Tom and her boss they would go to Sanditon. “Let me get your bag”

Sidney took her things and put them in the trunk. As he opened the door it squeaked loudly and she turned to look at him. She nodded her head in a disapproving manner as she climbed in. The grin on Sidney’s face was driving her nuts. It was like he enjoyed watching her feel uncomfortable. She kept her eyes locked on his as he shut the door. This is going to be fun, he thought.

They didn’t speak much as they left the city. Charlotte had said a few pleasant words knowing that she wouldn’t be upset with him for too long. They had the whole weekend to spend together and they really didn’t need to start off on the wrong foot. She didn’t know a soul in Sanditon, and she was going to have to rely on him. Charlotte turned down the radio and decided to try and make conversation.

“I apologize for my behavior earlier. To be honest, I’m nervous about this whole weekend and I don’t want anything to go wrong. As I told you before, work is basically my life right now and I don’t want to do anything to screw it up.” Charlotte confessed.

“You mean screw it up any further since sleeping with a co-worker doesn’t seem like the smartest idea,” Sidney smirked.

“I’m trying to apologize and you’re bringing up Edward,” Charlotte rolled her eyes and looked out the window. She saw dark clouds on the horizon. “Trust me I know that was a mistake”

“Sorry, I don’t mean to tease you. I just know Edward and he is just so, so Edward.” Sidney made a face of disgust.

“I’m sure you have your own stories to tell Mr. High and Mighty. Let’s not forget what you do for a profession.” Charlotte countered.

“It’s a little different being paid to fake love for an hour or so and choosing to do it willingly with someone.”

He had a point, but Charlotte didn’t want to let him know that, so she decided to go ahead and get back to the matter at hand.

“Anyways, I’m sorry I insulted your friend’s car. I should know that you have as much riding on this as I do. Not that I know what your deal is, but obviously something is going on with your brother.” Charlotte said in a sincere tone. Anyone could tell that the two Parker brothers were not on the greatest of terms.

“I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t shame you for who you sleep with. It isn’t any of my business. It’s your life.” Sidney glanced at her for a moment before bringing his eyes back to the road. He found himself drawn to her and couldn’t wrap his head around how a man like Edward even had a chance with her, much less actually getting her into bed. He could tell from their train ride home together that she was quite intelligent in addition to being beautiful. Based on the little bit of time they had spent together, she seemed too complex for someone like Edward.

“It’s okay.” She smiled at him. She wanted to ask him about how he became an escort but felt like it maybe too soon for that. There was something about him that made it seem like there was quite the back story there and her curiosity was definitely piqued, but she didn’t want to push it yet.

A light rain started to hit the windshield. The dark clouds Charlotte had seen just a few moments earlier seemed to be on top of them in no time. She listened to the raindrops go from a low pattering on the glass to a more pounding thud.

“Have you been in this car in the rain before?” Charlotte asked Sidney as her face started to look concerned.

“No, why?” Sidney asked as he leaned forward to look at the clouds hovering above them. “Honestly, we never drove around in it that often. Crowe has kept it because it’s the last connection he feels like he has to his father. There was never much need for it since we lived in the city.”

“Well, the wipers on this car are known not to be that effective. Any minute we may not be able to see where we are going.” Charlotte said. 

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, my dad loves cars and has owned many. He actually had one of these for the briefest of moments when I was younger. The wipers were fitted wrong so the blades just lift up. You may want to pull over. The clouds are just getting darker. I would like to arrive in one piece.” Charlotte explained to him.

“My father loved cars too. He was always trying to find some classic car to rebuild.” Sidney remembered. Charlotte could tell that he was thinking back on a particular memory. There was a softness that came over him at the moment and she instinctively put her hand on his as a sense of comfort. The touch brought him back to reality, and she pulled her hand back as he pulled the car over on a small patch of dirt on the side of the road.

Just a couple of minutes after the car stopped, a wall of water was upon them. The heavy rain beat the car roof repeatedly. They both sat watching the rain for a while. The sound of the rain started to lull them to sleep, so Charlotte decided they should engage in conversation.

“Can I ask you what you are getting out of this weekend? I know you said it would be helpful to you, but you never said why.” Charlotte took off her seat belt and turned towards Sidney. “I mean this helps me look good at the office.”

Sidney copied Charlotte’s action and took off his seat belt, but kept looking straight ahead. He watched the rain and wondered how much he should divulge to her. She seemed like a lovely lady, but sharing wasn’t something he was good at and he didn’t think she needed to know all about his life either. The weekend would be over in no time, and they would go their separate ways.

“Let’s just say that my family is very traditional, and they expect me to be married already. I would just like it if they thought I had a wonderful girlfriend, that way they can assume I am on my way to the altar and leave me alone.”

“What happens in two weeks when they ask about me?” Charlotte didn’t fully understand how Sidney thought one weekend would solve his problem.

“I haven’t seen my family in over a year. I can easily mention you when I talk to Mary. She wouldn’t be the wiser.”

“You haven’t seen your family for that long out of choice? I can’t imagine not wanting to see your family for so long. I miss mine something fierce.” Charlotte rotated to look out the window. She could feel herself getting emotional and thought about Alison. She missed her entire family, but the companionship she had with Alison was what she missed the most. They had been the best of friends growing up, and even though they weren’t separated by an ocean, it still seemed too far.

“My brother, Tom, the one you met at the picnic doesn’t make it that easy. I have chosen to keep my distance for the time being. I think he doesn’t realize sometimes that I am a man with my own life and my own choices.” Sidney decided not to say anything further on the subject. The falling out him and his brother had was unfortunate, and he regretted the distance that was between them, but Tom was so unwilling to see things from Sidney’s point of view that he decided it was easier to just stay away.

Charlotte could tell that Tom was a sore spot for Sidney and decided to let it go. She could easily play her part for the weekend, and if he could make her look good in front of her boss, then they both could win.

“I’ll do my best to convince them that I am head over heels in love with you.” She twinkled at him.

“Don’t act like it will be hard, Miss Heywood. How could you resist this face? And just wait until I turn on my charm.” He beamed. She could see he really believed that he was irresistible.

“It’s nice to see your humble side, Mr. Parker.” Charlotte rolled her eyes as she felt herself get a little warm. There was something about the way he looked at her that she realized could make the panties melt off of anyone. He must be very popular among the ladies of London, she thought to herself.

“Oh, I never said I was humble.” Sidney gravitated towards her. “I am very confident in the skills I possess and how tempting I can be.”

His face was within an inch of hers. She glanced at his lips and immediately wished she hadn’t. They stared into each other’s eyes. Sidney felt himself becoming nervous, which wasn’t normal for him. He never felt nervous around women. Charlotte parted her lips slightly but didn’t know what to say. She pulled back abruptly trying to break the trance she had been in.

“You’re good, Sidney, but not that good,” Charlotte said trying to keep her breathing under control. “I think we should go.” The rain had let up and the car suddenly felt very hot. She rolled down the window just a little to feel the cool breeze on her face. A few droplets of rain hit her face before she rolled it back up.

“Not that good, huh?” Sidney smirked and raised one of his eyebrows. Charlotte rolled her eyes at him and then kept her focus on the scenery outside the vehicle.

The rest of the ride to Sanditon was quite uneventful. The sunlight had finally broken through the clouds and the weather was starting to warm up. They had stopped for brunch at a small restaurant that overlooked the sea. It wasn’t too much farther to Sanditon, but Sidney had wanted to have one last meal in peace before the weekend started. The meal was one of the best Charlotte had ever had and it wasn’t just the food. She found Sidney to be quite the gentleman and enjoyed being in his company.

“I promised Mary that we could stop by the house before we check into the hotel,” Sidney said as they entered the town. “I hope you don’t mind.”

“Not at all,” Charlotte said as she kept looking at the window. The town was quaint but beautiful. There were older buildings that were just delightful. Charlotte could see the newer construction closer to the beach. The Austen Project, she thought.

The pulled up to one of the older looking homes that was more inland but still appeared to be within walking distance to the beach. There was lavender planted in the flower beds and some ivy vines that seemed to be learning how to climb up the side of the building. Charlotte didn’t think she had seen an exterior of a house look this lovely before. 

Sidney came around, opened her door, and helped her out of the car.

“We’ll be in and out. I promise.” He said as he took her hand in his. He had taken the hands of many women in the past, but this time he felt a jolt go through him. He had felt it before when they first met. He shook his head trying to clear his mind and rang the bell.

“Are you okay?” Charlotte asked him. She wondered for a moment if he felt the same sensation she had. It was a silly, girlish thought and for a moment she thought she should make a note to remind herself to stop watching so many romance movies.

“I’m good.” He replied as they both heard what sounded like a stampede of children running towards the door.

The door opened and there were more children than Charlotte could count. She instantly felt overwhelmed. She thought her family was large, but this didn’t compare. Charlotte looked at Sidney who just gave her a look assuring her that she wasn’t crazy, there were this many children present. Then she heard a woman’s voice “Upstairs now!” All at once, the children disappeared and a very lovely woman with blonde hair appeared. She took Charlotte's free hand straight away and pulled her away from Sidney. Charlotte had never been embraced like this by a stranger before. She thought it would be awkward, but the hug was very warm and friendly.

“You must be Charlotte! I am so very happy to meet you. I am Mary. I am Tom’s wife.” Mary pulled back and looked Charlotte up and down, then spun her in a circle. “Tom said you were lovely, but you are stunning.”

Charlotte blushed and looked towards the floor. She had never had someone be so complimentary towards her physical appearance before especially another female.

“I can see why she caught your eye, Sidney.” Mary grinned at Sidney. There was some unspoken conversation going on between them.

“Oh stop it, Mary. Don’t embarrass her.” Sidney took Charlotte's hand back and his and gripped it tighter. Charlotte didn’t know if he was doing that to assure her or if he himself was feeling stressed out. “Is Tom here?”

“Not yet. He has some business to tend to. He’ll be back soon though.” Mary seemed so happy and had such a wonderful glow about her. Charlotte knew she would like her, even if she did seem very forward. “He said I could get you settled in.”

“Settled in? We are staying at the hotel.” Sidney suddenly felt sick to his stomach. Please don’t say it, he thought as he quickly said a prayer.

“You are staying here. We haven’t seen you in ages and no way will we have you staying at that dingy hotel. Why do you think we are building another one? You’ll stay here. I already have your room ready.” Mary walked towards the car. “Where are your bags?”

“Mary, I already have reservations and you know I hate to cancel.” Sidney pleaded.

“Don’t be silly. We run this town. I already called and told them to cancel the reservation for Sidney Parker. I redid the guest room in the attic. The girls put fresh flowers in there for Charlotte it is perfect.” Mary was so pleased with herself Charlotte couldn’t even fake a smile. The flowers were such a nice thought.

“Thank you, Mary. I appreciate that.” Charlotte said.

Before either of them knew it Mary had their bags and was bringing them up the stairs. Sidney was flabbergasted. He loved Mary dearly and didn’t want to hurt her feelings, so he took the bags from her hands and followed her. They made their way past the second and third floors and into a small corridor with a staircase to the attic.

The room had dark wood flooring and a pale grey-blue paint on the walls. They had fairy lights strung around the room and as Mary said there was a fresh bouquet of flowers on the dresser. Charlotte’s eyes were drawn to the fact that there was only one bed in the room. Her heart started beating fast. Mary seemed to sense what Charlotte was thinking.

“Don’t worry, dear. There is plenty of privacy here. You can’t hear anything that goes on in the attic.” Mary said bluntly. Charlotte could feel her face grow red again. She was starting to get concerned that by the time she left Sanditon she would be a new shade of pink.

“Mary, I don’t think-“ Sidney tried to think of a way to get them out of this situation. He could see how stunned Charlotte looked and didn’t want her to feel uncomfortable. Hell, he didn’t want to feel uncomfortable.

“Shh, Sidney!” Mary scolded him. “We are all grown-ups here. There is no need to try and pretend otherwise. Sex is a perfectly healthy and natural act.”

Sidney had never felt so embarrassed in his life. He felt like a teenager being lectured by a parent. He gave Charlotte a look that said he was sorry because he knew that Mary would be getting her way.

“Come down after you get yourselves situated. I am going to make us some tea and then Charlotte and I can get to know each other.” Mary smiled again and exited the room. Sidney closed the door behind her.

He walked to Charlotte who was looking at the bed. He stood next to her and they just stared at it together, in silence.

This should be an interesting weekend, they both thought silently to themselves.


	4. Dinner with the Parkers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the comments on the last chapter. I do like spinning this crazy tale. 
> 
> Also, to keep my editor happy, Sidney is as clean as a whistle. He has always wrapped it up and will continue to do so. #WrapItUp lol

Sidney had never been nervous to share a bed with a woman before, not that he had ever been in this situation before. There was a difference between having sex with a stranger for money and the intimacy of sharing a bed with someone. He would usually leave the moment that any sexual act was over, and he was skilled enough to make sure the women were always too worn out to try and persuade him otherwise.

“I can sleep on the floor,” Sidney said as he moved their bags to the corner of the room. “It’s no problem.”

“Are you afraid that I won’t be able to control myself?” Charlotte teased him as she sat on the bed.

“Well, I don’t know. How long has it been for you?” Sidney replied as he raised his eyebrow.

“Oh, I would never even dare to think about taking advantage of you,” Charlotte huffed.

“Good, it’s nice to know we are on the same page.”

“As Mary said, we are adults; I think we can handle sleeping in the same bed. You stay on your side and I’ll have no problem staying on mine.” Charlotte said confidently, as she allowed herself to fall back onto the bed. The soft comforter enveloped her and she let out a deep breath. The bed felt heavenly and the nerves that she had been feeling earlier in the day had dissipated. She wondered how she could talk her way out of dinner and stay in bed with a book.

“Don’t think you’re going to stay there for the rest of the day,” Sidney’s voice interrupted her moment of peace. “We have dinner to go to.”

Charlotte was a little annoyed with him. How dare he assume to know what she was thinking, even though he had been right, which made it all the more irritating.

“I’m not. I’m just taking a moment to breathe.” Charlotte stared up at the ceiling and started imagining figures in the swirls of the wood beams.

“Do you usually take long to get ready?” Sidney asked. “I was thinking we could walk over to the restaurant if we had time.”

“No, I am usually pretty quick, and I wouldn’t mind the exercise, especially after the car ride here,” Charlotte replied. She suddenly felt an urge to ask a question that had been weighing on her mind. “Am I your type?”

It was a dumb question to ask and she couldn’t believe she even asked it, but it was out there now. She could feel her face turning red. She had been curious about the type of women that Sidney would bring home and if she fit into whatever image it was that his family imagined.

“Are you my type?” Sidney pretended to ponder her question, but he already knew the answer.

“Don’t answer that. It was an idiotic question.” Charlotte started to explain herself.”I just wanted to know if your family would expect you to bring home someone like me. God, can we go back a minute before I sounded like a schoolgirl?”

“What does that mean ‘Someone like you’? Is there something wrong with you?” Sidney stopped digging through his suitcase and gave her a curious look.

“Nothing is wrong with me,” Charlotte stated. “I just didn’t-“

“Exactly, so don’t worry about it.” Sidney cut her off and gazed at Charlotte intently. “You are perfect the way you are, trust me.”

Charlotte grinned at him as she got off the bed. There was a sincerity about him and for a second she thought that hearing those words from him was worth the entire trip. It made her feel good.

Sidney had truly meant what he had said. They may have only spent a limited amount of time together, but Sidney could already tell that her smile could charm any man into doing whatever she wanted. The moments of insecurity she had confused him. He didn’t know if it came from really being insecure or from coming out of that relationship with Edward. He knew Edward was a cad and that he had done a number on a few of the ladies in town before he left for university. The thought of Edward and Charlotte being together made him want to gag; luckily, Charlotte spoke before he could spend a moment longer thinking about it.

“I’ll go freshen up,” Charlotte left to go into the small bathroom that was connected to the attic. The bathroom was probably one of the smallest she had ever seen and had just enough room to turn around. She was barely able to change in it, but managed. She put on a vintage dress she had purchased off of a clothing website she had found recently. It was a little more than she would usually spend on herself, but she loved the dress. It looked like something straight out of the 1960s and fit her body perfectly. The peach and pink flowers with green leaves on a white background fit the summer season. Her hair was a bit of a mess, so she chose to brush it out and leave it in a high ponytail. After she was done freshening up her makeup, she thought she looked rather pretty. She smiled at herself in the mirror and walked back into the attic room.

Sidney had changed while she was in the bathroom and was now wearing some khaki pants and a forest green button-up shirt that matched her dress rather well. The cologne he had put on filled up the room, and it now had a woodsy smell lingering in the air. It wasn’t overbearing and somehow fit him well.

“That smells good” Charlotte commented. “Some cologne can be a bit much, but whatever that is I really like it.”

“You mean I don’t smell like a Grandpa? Damn, I guess that backfired.” Sidney joked. “I don’t need you trying to creep up on my side of the bed. I was hoping it would have a bear spray effect.”

“Stop being ridiculous,” she laughed as she walked across the room to her bag. She took out a pair of sandals and started strapping them on as Sidney watched her. “I don’t know if you really think you are that irresistible or just like to bug me.”

“Maybe it’s a little of both.” 

Charlotte grabbed her small yellow satin clutch purse, and Sidney led her out of the room. After they had made it down the first flight of stairs, the noise of the children below immediately echoed off the walls.

“It really is pretty quiet up there, isn’t it?” Charlotte observed.

By the time they got to the bottom of the stairs, there were children hanging off of all of Sidney’s limbs. There were a couple of nephews hanging off of his legs and the little niece grabbing at his arm. Sidney’s whole demeanor changed as he started teasing his nieces and nephews and followed it up with tickles. The children’s laughter was infectious, but the huge smile that was now on Sidney’s face was downright adorable. The children were very curious about Charlotte, and she had to field a hundred questions. She hadn’t prepared herself for being interrogated by kids, but she enjoyed it. The craziness reminded her a little of home, but on a more chaotic level. They were finally able to get Sidney free from the clutches of Tom and Mary’s little minions, and they made their way to the main street.

“I’m kind of shocked,” Charlotte said as they started walking. There was a slight ocean breeze blowing, and the sun was still hovering above the sea in the distance.

“Shocked about what?” Sidney asked.

“That you haven’t come home sooner. Your family clearly misses you, and I gather that the feeling is mutual.”

“It’s not the children I have a problem with. I do miss them. I just can’t deal with their parents, or I should say father, right now.”

“Is your relationship with your brother that bad?” Charlotte asked and instantly regretted it. ”Sorry, that’s really none of my business.”

“It’s okay.” Sidney sighed. ”We didn’t exactly have a falling out, but what Tom finds to be a priority in life, I do not. We don’t see eye to eye, and unfortunately, instead of him just letting that be, he constantly wants me to change. He wants me to be something I’m not, and I’m not okay with that.”

“Family can be difficult. When you have a group of different people thrown together and expect them to magically get along, it’s tough. Everyone has different personalities, different goals, and different beliefs. It is actually pretty interesting how a group of people can end up so dissimilar, at least in my case.” Charlotte sympathized as she thought about her own large family and the variety of issues they have had.

“I thought you were close to your family.”

“Oh, I am. We are all close and I love them dearly, but when you have a large family sometimes you have to follow the motto ‘Choose to be kind over being right’; it helps. You don’t always have to agree, but you need to love them and respect them, and they should treat you the same in return.”

“You should tell that to Tom,”

“Maybe I will.” Charlotte smiled.

They walked another couple of blocks before they stopped at a corner and waited for cars to pass. A few other pedestrians walked by and Sidney suddenly took Charlotte’s hand in his. She looked up at him with questioning eyes. Sidney leaned down towards her and whispered in her ear.

“There are prying eyes all around this town and you’re my girlfriend, right?”

“Of course,” she said as she kissed his cheek lightly. They had not really talked about how affectionate they would be towards each other and wondered if she had been too forward. Before she could think any longer about it, she felt his lips on her cheek. The way her body reacted to that small kiss was something she had never recalled feeling before. She leaned into him and put her head against his shoulder for a minute.

“Good,” Sidney said as he looked down at her. “Gossip in this town spreads like wildfire. That’s another reason why I don’t like coming back here.”

“The town is smaller than I had expected, but that is probably why it’s so beautiful. It hasn’t been overdeveloped.”

“Yet,” Sidney responded as they crossed the street and headed to a small garden that had a few wooden benches. There were wildflowers in the tiny area and all the places to sit had a wonderful view of the sea. The reds, purples, and pinks were so vivid that they didn’t look real. Sidney motioned for Charlotte to sit down.

“This is beautiful,” she said. The words barely made their way out of her mouth. It truly was a breathtaking sight. The sun was starting to sink farther down into the ocean and the skies were turning a light purple and orange hue. It reminded her of rainbow sherbet ice cream.

“It really is. I really hope as this Austen Project continues on that places like this don’t end up getting tossed aside for hotel rooms and profits.” The concern in Sidney’s voice was confusing to Charlotte. Sidney Parker himself was a complete riddle. He was a handsome man who appeared to come from a well-off family, at least one that was developing towns, and yet he was making money as a male escort. He seemed educated and gave off this casual vibe that had a slight air of notoriety. There had been a few people who had given him a side-eye as they walked by, so he was known in the community.

“I thought the project was a family venture. Do you not have any role or say so in the matter?”

Sidney sighed and looked at her. He was contemplating how much he should tell her. His current family situation was complicated and considering that in a few days they would part, it didn’t seem like she needed too much information.

“I guess you could say that it technically started out as a family project, but it’s more like Tom’s dream.” Sidney started to explain. “My family has been in Sanditon since the early 1800s. They were one of the founding families of the town. Their goal was to make it the next Bath or Brighton, but unfortunately, it didn’t turn out that way.”

“What happened?” Charlotte asked as she tried to imagine what the town looked like back then. She loved the history of towns like this and sometimes thought she ended up in the wrong profession.

“There had been a devastating fire. It almost ruined my family, if the stories are all true,” Sidney replied. He looked at Charlotte and could tell by the look on her face that she wanted to hear more. “I don’t doubt the history itself, but some people like to exaggerate.”

“It’s fascinating that your family knows so much about where they are from. I always wanted to look into mine, but have never gotten the chance.” Charlotte thought of how many times she would start to research her family name and then get distracted by some work project.

“Tom is obsessed with our family’s lineage. I think he got that from my father though. It was something they bonded over. We all knew the basic history of our family. It’s hard not to when you’ve been in one place for so long, but there were stories told over the years and those two were on a mission to put the pieces of the puzzle together.” Sidney sighed. “Now he is on a mission to complete the dream of a man he never even met.”

“It sounds kind of noble to me.” Charlotte smiled up at him and then looked back towards the sea. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath of the salty sea air. Sidney loved how peaceful she looked and noticed the small freckles on her nose. Every time he looked at her she seemed to look even lovelier than the moment before. She opened her eyes and Sidney quickly looked down at his watch. He didn’t want her to catch him admiring her.

“We should get going,” Sidney stated as he stood up and offered her his hand. “Come on.”

The restaurant was quaint. The building itself looked like an old terrace that at one point had probably been someone’s home. There were worn drawings around the room that looked like they were old plans for the town. As they waited for a table, a drawing of a pagoda caught Charlotte’s eye. She looked at the corner of the page and noticed the year 1817 with the initials JS next to it.

The restaurant host came over to Charlotte and Sidney, and led them to a table. Tom had not arrived yet, which wasn’t surprising to Sidney. Tom was always late. Sidney walked to one of the chairs that were facing the door and pulled it out for Charlotte. He could smell her floral perfume in the air. 

“You are quite the gentleman,” she commented.

“I know how to treat a lady,” He smiled at her and picked up the drink menu that had been placed on the table. “Do you want to order a drink?”

“I’ll take one.” Charlotte leaned towards him to view the menu. “What would you suggest?”

“I’m pretty simple when it comes to my drinks, so I’m not really great at recommendations.” Sidney browsed through the list of cocktails. “A good ale suits me pretty well too.”

“That actually sounds good. Why don’t you just surprise me and choose something?”

Before Sidney could order he saw his older brother walk into the room. Tom’s jovial nature was on full display as he smiled at every table he passed. Sidney often thought he would make a great politician.

“Sidney!” Tom grinned. Sidney could tell he wasn’t as happy to see him as he pretended to be. “Charlotte, it is so lovely to see you again. I hope Mary and the children made you feel at home earlier.”

“Of course we did!” Mary piped up from behind Tom. Mary almost looked like a completely different woman. She was wearing a form-fitting red dress and had let her hair down into a cascading waterfall of golden curls. “Charlotte, you look lovely.”

“Thank you, Mary! I have to say you look absolutely stunning.” Charlotte replied.

“I like to remind my husband on a regular basis how lucky he is to have me. We may have a litter of children, but damn it, I am still a woman.” Mary said as she nudged Tom.

“A very hot one too, my dear.” Tom kissed her cheek and Mary’s face squished up into a cute smile.

The waiter came over to take their drink orders and Tom took charge immediately.

“My brother and I will have a whiskey and can I get two Sanditon sangrias for the ladies?” Tom said.

“A Sanditon sangria?” Charlotte questioned. “I didn’t know the town had its own special drink.”

“You’ll love it Charlotte,” Mary reassured her. “I get them all the time. It was Tom’s idea for the Sanditon sangria to be served at several of the dining establishments in town. He thought it would be a nice signature drink people would remember.”

“Has my brother shown you around at all?” Tom asked as he gave Sidney a look that would be something a teacher would give a naughty student.

“We took a short walk before we came here, and from what I have seen, the town is very nice. The views from the park were amazing.”

“There is much to see in Sanditon. I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind taking a tour with me on Saturday morning before the SpringFest kicks off. I was speaking to Eli about a situation we encountered with the property rights of one of the plots of land. He told me that you would be able to assist in the matter,” Tom told her as a waiter set down their drinks.

“Tom, must you talk about business already? I am much more interested in how these two met.” Mary interrupted. “Business matters can wait another day.”

“It’s no problem, Mary. That’s the reason I’m here,” Charlotte replied as she took a rather large swig of her sangria. The drink was cool to her lips and had hints of berries and peaches. She was already convinced that it was the best sangria she had ever tasted. “Saturday morning is fine, Tom”

“Great! I look forward to it.” Tom sat up a little taller in his chair. Charlotte couldn’t make Tom out yet. He seemed like a very happy fellow, but she could tell that he carried a heavy weight on his shoulders. He was very different than Sidney both physically and personality-wise. She didn’t think she ever would have guessed that they were related if she hadn’t been told.

“Anyways, Charlotte, that’s one of the reasons you’re here. The more important reason is to meet us, right?” Mary winked at Sidney. “I’m glad Sidney finally made it back home. He always seems too busy for us. Has he told you much about us? We didn’t know he was seeing anyone. When Tom came home from the picnic I was shocked when he told me that he had seen Sidney, and then I was almost fell off my chair when he told me he had a girlfriend!”

“You make me sound like a leper!” Sidney rolled his eyes. “I have had relationships.”

“Well, if I haven’t met them, they don’t count.” Mary laughed. “So tell me how did you meet?”

Sidney and Charlotte looked at each other not knowing what to say. They had overlooked coming up with an origin story. They both took sips of their drinks before replying.

“The gym,” Sidney replied at the same time that Charlotte had said “Coffee shop”

“Well, which one is it?” A look of confusion fell upon Mary’s face and she eyed them both. Sidney nudged Charlotte under the table to take the lead.

“There is a coffee shop next to the gym that Sidney is a member of. I was coming out of the coffee shop and he was coming out of the gym-“ Charlotte started to explain.

“And then your eyes met,” Mary said as she signaled the waiter for more drinks. She had drunk hers like it was a glass of water.

“More like he ran into me and made me spill my tea all over myself.” Charlotte decided to add some truth to their tale. There was no point in lying about where exactly they met.

“She then proceeded to tell me off, and I’ve been at her beck and call ever since.” Sidney glanced at Charlotte, she squinted her eyes at him, and he kissed the side of her head.

“You deserved it,” Charlotte said. She watched Sidney try to hide his smile as he brought the tumbler of whiskey up to his mouth. There was no denying how incredibly cute he could be.

“Love shows up in unexpected places.” Mary beamed and looked to Tom. He had not been interested at all about Charlotte and Sidney’s relationship, and tried to get him to engage in the conversation. “I mean Tom and I met in a bathroom.”

Charlotte took a big gulp of the fresh glass of sangria that had been placed before her just a few seconds before. How people can start relationships in bathrooms when she could barely get one to last more than one date was a mystery.

“You may want to slow down on those,” Sidney whispered into her ear. “They have more alcohol in them than you think.”

“So, Sidney, is this thing serious?” Tom finally spoke. He seemed a bit annoyed, which seemed an odd way to feel over a brother’s relationship. Charlotte would have taken offense but knew this had more to do with Sidney than her. “Will we be finally hearing wedding bells in your future?”

Charlotte saw Sidney tense up and could feel his energy change. What a strange question to get upset over, Charlotte thought to herself.

“Oh brother, you know you’ll be the first to receive an invitation.” Sidney snapped back. Charlotte placed her hand on his thigh, which made him jerk in surprise and take a deep breath.

“Tom, don’t scare Charlotte off. There is no rush to matrimony here.” Mary gave Tom a look that even frightened Charlotte. Mary was a strong woman and not one to be messed with. Tom drank the rest of his whiskey and forced a smile upon his face. It was obvious he would now try to be on his best behavior.

“It was just a question, no harm intended. I apologize, Charlotte, if that made you feel uncomfortable.” Tom moved back to allow the servers room to put down the food. “I like to get to the point sometimes and what point is there in dating if you aren’t looking for someone to marry.”

“No worries, Tom. It is springtime and I’m sure weddings are on the minds of many,” Charlotte said politely. “Just not ours.”

Mary chimed in with questions about dating apps and thoughts on how people connect now. The more Mary talked, the more Charlotte grew to like her. She was a force to be reckoned with and Charlotte admired that. She could tell how well suited Tom and Mary were. Tom was a dreamer and while his head was stuck in the clouds, Mary was back on earth trying to figure out how to help Tom’s visions come to life and also to bring him back down to reality when needed. She was involved in the development as much as she could be, but liked to keep work and pleasure separate. From the short time she had been with them, they did really seem to balance each other out. She noticed that Sidney seemed to highly regard Mary. Their relationship was much warmer than Tom and Sidney’s. She knew that Sidney and his brother had their differences, but she really liked Tom and Mary.

Charlotte spent most of the evening watching the three Parkers talk about old times and catch up on family news. There was another sibling, Arthur, who was currently on a once-in-a-lifetime road trip to America with their mother. He was vlogging their travels and it was a huge source of amusement for the brothers. Both of them kept up with the madness. Their brother was eating donuts at every stop and giving his food review. Charlotte was enjoying herself much more than she had expected. She was surprised how at ease she felt with them. She had lost track of how many sangrias she had drunk. She realized she was up to three and a half and started to get nervous about standing up.

Sidney saw Charlotte staring at her drink and came to the conclusion that she was probably realizing how much she had drunk. He smiled at her and she couldn’t help but give him a big goofy smile in return. He had noticed how much tipsier she was getting as the night went on, but he thought she deserved a night of relaxation. He was aware that she was a hard worker and based on their previous conversations, he thought she deserved a night to let loose.

“I think those sangrias were stronger than they tasted,” Charlotte said with a giggle.

“I warned you,” Sidney laughed. “I think we should get you home.”

“I think we will be heading there ourselves,” Tom said. “Do you want to share an Uber?”

“No, I think we will try to walk. Fresh air may do her some good.” Sidney replied as he nodded towards Charlotte.

Tom grinned and started to walk away before turning around and heading back towards Sidney.

“I’ve missed you, Sidney. This was really nice.” Tom said from the heart. “Charlotte is lovely.”

Tom’s words hit Sidney harder than he expected. He had missed his brother too, but he knew one good dinner couldn’t fix everything. He watched as Mary gave Charlotte a hug goodbye and then departed. Charlotte turned to him and still had that big, drunk smile on her face. The dinner had been really good and he asked himself if he could ever make a life in Sanditon again.

“Let’s get out of here, stud!” Charlotte’s voice interrupted his thoughts. She grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the restaurant. Sidney was surprised how well Charlotte could still walk after the amount of sangria she had drunk. He could feel her grip his hand tighter as they walked over some of the uneven sidewalks. Charlotte had become very chatty on their walk back. It was cute. He wondered if she was always like this when she drank. He remained silent and just let her speak.

“I don’t remember the last time I had such a nice dinner. I love Mary. She is such a riot and your brother. I mean he is nice. Those two are couple goals. Did I just say couple goals? I hate that phrase, but it’s true. They seem so happy. I can’t believe that you don’t come here more often. How did they meet in a bathroom? I would never expect to meet anyone in a bathroom. Of course, I never really expect to meet anyone. Do you think I should start hanging out in bathrooms?” Charlotte laughed at herself.

“No, you should not hang out in bathrooms, Charlotte. That would be unsanitary.” Sidney laughed. She seemed a bit disappointed in his response. “You’ll find a decent fellow soon enough and he will not be in some random bathroom.”

“You are right. I am too good for that,” Charlotte replied.

“Yes, you are,” Sidney agreed, grinning at her.

Charlotte continued to ramble on and by the time they made it to Tom and Mary’s she was starting to yawn. He helped her up the stairs to the attic. As Sidney turned to shut the door, Charlotte spread herself out on the bed.

“I’m so tired. I can’t feel my feet.” She said into the pillow.

“That’s what three glasses of sangria can do to you,” Sidney said as he went and sat at the edge of the bed. Charlotte didn’t move. Sidney took off her sandals and put them by the foot of the bed. “I’m going to go to the bathroom, you can change in here.”

“Okay,” Charlotte replied.

Sidney went into the bathroom and changed into a pair of his pajama pants and a tank top. He splashed some water on his face and then brushed his teeth. It had been a very long day and he was exhausted. He gave her ten minutes before he called out through the crack in the bathroom door. 

“Are you decent?’ He asked. The room was silent. “Charlotte?”

Sidney entered the room and saw Charlotte lying on top of the white comforter on the bed. She was wearing a purple camisole and black shorts. She was snoring loudly _. She’ll love it when I mention that tomorrow, Sidney thought to himself_. He walked to the side of the bed, pulled back the covers, and then went back over to pick up Charlotte. He carried her to where he had just been and placed her gently on the bed. He pulled the blanket up around her and she snuggled herself deeper into the bed. He took the ponytail holder out of her hair and put it on the nightstand. His hands brushed the strands of hair off of her face. He stood there for a moment looking at her peaceful face.

This is a business arrangement and nothing else, he thought to himself, as he grabbed the pillow from the opposite side of the bed and tossed it onto the floor.


	5. Hungover

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I meant to upload this over the weekend, but time got away from me. I hope you all enjoy this new chapter. I'm just trying to have some fun and hopefully bring a smile to one of your faces. Also, for those of you mentioning the Sanditon sangria, there were Sanditon drink recipes on twitter last year. I don't remember if she had a sangria one, but they were great. Maybe they can be found again and everyone can enjoy a nice Sanditon drink during the holidays. Thanks for supporting my crazy story. Now on to the adventures of escort Sid.

The throbbing on the right side of Charlotte’s head woke her from her slumber. It felt as though someone was banging some internal drum above her temple. She opened her eyes ever so slightly and realized almost immediately that even the sliver of light coming through the small attic window was too much for her at the moment. She felt like an idiot for having that last sangria, especially after Sidney had warned her about the alcohol content. It tasted so delicious that she couldn’t truly regret it though. She knew she was a happy drunk and just got very chatty when she was intoxicated, so she wasn’t too worried about her behavior the previous night. She was worried about today though. She didn’t know what Sidney had planned other than Mary’s surprise party later that night and didn’t know how she would get through the day with this headache. She made a mental note to never have more than one Sanditon sangria again. She rolled over in bed and noticed that Sidney wasn’t there. Getting into bed the night before was a hazy blur and she only vaguely remembered putting on her pajamas before going to bed.

Her phone started to vibrate and she saw Alison’s name pop up on the screen.

“Hello” She said in a low mumble.

“Charlotte? Is that you?” Alison asked.

“Who else would it be?” Charlotte said pointedly.

“You went drinking last night.”

“I didn’t go out drinking. I just had a few glasses of wine at dinner. There is a difference.”

“So, did you get any sleep?”

“Of course, I did. What else do you think-“ Charlotte let out a breath. “I told you that I am not going to be getting any of those types of services, Alison!”

“Sorry, the way you spoke about him after the picnic seemed kind of promising. You can’t fault me for wanting my sister to get the most out of this weekend.”

“Well, I am sorry to disappoint you.”

“It’s only Friday,” Alison laughed. “Anyways, you need to send me a picture of him.”

“I’m not going to take a picture of him.”

“You’re the one who said he was the hottest man you had ever seen. How can I not be curious about that?”

“I don’t remember saying that.”

“You did. Before the part where you said he ran into you, you said he was the hottest guy you had ever seen. I remember the important details.”

“Well-“ Charlotte didn’t remember saying those words but didn’t doubt that she would have during her rant to Alison after their initial meeting.

“So where is he?”

“I don’t know. He is probably downstairs eating breakfast, and as much as I would love to sit here being told how I need to have a sex-filled weekend, I really need to find some headache medicine and get something in my stomach.”

“Fine, I’ll just sit here with my fingers crossed. I hope your head feels better. Love you!”

“I love you too,” Charlotte said as she hung up the phone and placed it back onto the side table.

Charlotte stumbled her way to the bathroom door and opened it. She heard the door click behind her and when she turned around realized the mistake she had made. Sidney stood in front of her stark naked. He had a look of horror on his face and pulled a towel off the rack and wrapped it around his waist. She turned to the door and tried to open it but it felt jammed.

“Damn it!” She said.

“Don’t you knock?” Sidney asked in a frustrated tone.

“I didn’t hear the shower earlier. I didn’t know you were in here. I thought you were having breakfast downstairs.” She had thought the bathroom was small when she was in there by herself, but now that Sidney was in there she really could see how minuscule it was. She could feel him take a step closer to her.

“Scoot over.” He instructed her. “The door can stick sometimes because of the shower steam.”

Charlotte turned around and she tried to keep her eyes on his, but couldn’t help but look down again. His physique was absolute perfection, but now that she had seen what she had, she no longer wondered if he thought he was irresistible. This man knows what he is working with and deserves to be proud of that, Charlotte thought.

“I think you need a bigger towel.” Charlotte couldn’t believe she said those words out loud. “I mean don’t you have a bigger towel.”

Sidney groaned and rolled his eyes. If this meeting had been under different circumstances he probably would have found some sense of pleasure in this, but at the moment he was embarrassed for feeling exposed. That in itself was a shocking reaction.

“Just open the door,” Charlotte begged. She could feel her heart pounding which was making her head hurt more. She started to rub her head.

“Are you okay?”

“My head hurts and I wasn’t expecting to find you when I came in here.”

Sidney pulled on the door a couple of times and finally with the third tug it opened. Charlotte tried squeezing by him and tried not to bother his towel or what was hidden beneath it.

Charlotte went and sat on the edge of the bed while Sidney finished up. He came out of the bathroom a few minutes later. They both avoided eye contact. She wanted to climb back in bed and hide under the covers.

“It’s all yours,” Sidney said as he left the attic. Charlotte immediately went to the bathroom and turned on the shower. She thought a cold shower would help her in more ways than one. She let the cool water run over her head and did some breathing exercises. The image of Sidney’s nude body would be forever burned into her mind. She pictured herself as an elderly woman randomly telling nurses about the hot man in the bathroom. After ten minutes she got out of the shower, threw on some sweats, and brushed her hair. She didn’t know the plan for the day but figured she still had time to relax. She left the bathroom and climbed back into bed.

Sidney suddenly appeared at the doorway with a tray of food.

“What’s that?” Charlotte turned on her side. Sidney walked over and placed the tray on the bed next to where Charlotte was laying.

“I made you breakfast,” Sidney stated.

“And brought me flowers?” Charlotte asked as she took a flower off of the tray.

“The flowers were my nieces doing. I can just take credit for the food. You can call it Sidney’s Hangover Breakfast. It’s usually what I make myself when I’m in your situation.”

Charlotte looked at the plate of eggs, sliced avocados, and a piece of toast. Nobody had ever made her breakfast before.

“Thank you.”

“Oh, I forgot, these are for your head.” Sidney took out a couple of pills and handed them to her. “Also…”

Sidney handed her a banana and she knew exactly what he was referring to based on the look that was plastered on his face.

“Seriously?” She said as they both started laughing.

“They are really good for hangovers.”

“Are they really?” Charlotte giggled.

“Yes, they are.”

“I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean to walk in on you like that.”

“It’s fine,” Sidney said as he let the embarrassment he had been feeling go. “You should eat and rest. We don’t need to be anywhere until this afternoon.”

“I don’t want to be a party pooper”

“You won’t be. If you remember, Mary had more sangrias than you. Tom and I are going to take the kids to the beach and set up. You and Mary can come along later. Tom thinks it will be more of a surprise if you bring her down to the beach anyway. “

“What time do we need to be there?”

“Two. Do you need anything else?”

“No, this is all perfect. Thank you, Sidney.”

“You’re welcome. I’ll see you later.” Sidney patted her leg and got up to leave.

Sidney gathered the children up and headed down to the shoreline. It had been a very long time since he had spent any one on one time with Tom, and surprisingly he was looking forward to it. Tom was at the beach with a few bunches of balloons, and the party company had already set up some cabanas and tables. Even though Tom loved to hire people to put together the most lavish parties, he always wanted Mary’s parties to be simpler and family-oriented. He was always very hands-on and had even baked her chocolate cake from scratch one year, not that it was the greatest, but he put his heart into it and that is what Mary liked. That was the Tom that Sidney admired and loved, and even envied sometimes.

“Good morning, Sidney!” Tom said as the strings of the balloons wrapped themselves around his face. He kept pushing them out of the way. “I hope this breeze calms down a bit.”

“I believe it will,” Sidney said as he observed Tom being a flustered mess. “You know we could have come down here a little later. We have enough time and the weather will probably be more favorable then.”

“No, I want to make sure I have all the time that I can. It’s Mary’s 40th birthday and I want it to be perfect. I don’t want any details missed. It isn’t every day you get to throw your wife a surprise 40th birthday.”

“I’m sure it will be, Tom” Sidney assured him. Tom had decided to theme Mary’s party around the beach party movies of the 1960s. Mary loved all those Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon movies and would watch them whenever she was down. It’s what influenced their road trip through California that they took before the children came along. Sidney knew Mary would absolutely love it.

“How is Charlotte? Did those sangrias do her in?” Tom asked. “You know Mary has built up a better tolerance to them now.” He added proudly.

“Charlotte has a bit of a headache this morning, but I’m sure she will be fine by this afternoon. I’ve always found it funny how you get amused by shocking the people with the strength of that drink.”

“You know the more loosened up someone is the more money they will spend.” 

“Do you really want Sanditon to end up with a reputation of being your typical party town?” Sidney asked as he put a blanket on the ground for the younger children to sit on.

“Right now I want to do whatever is necessary to bring money into the town. The more demand there is the more likely it is that the town council will finally approve the plan to build the new hotel.”

“I didn’t realize you were still trying to build Clifftop Inn.” Sidney couldn’t hide the disappointment in his voice. “You know that dad never liked that idea.”

“I know that, but I think he would understand. We need something grand to draw people here. The location is perfect and the plans for the hotel are terrific. All the rooms would have a view of the sea.” Tom wanted to debate the reasons why this was a good idea, but knew it would be fruitless. “If you were around more you would understand.”

“What I know is that you’ve already made this town into something special. The little B&B’s are charming, the motel isn’t gaudy, and there is a welcoming feel when you enter the town. You should work with what makes this town unique and not try to turn it into something it isn’t.” Sidney sighed. “That’s just my two cents and I know they aren’t worth anything to you.”

“We can agree to disagree then,” Tom said as he stared back towards the town. “I can envision so much more and I know it’s possible.”

“You’ve never had a problem with your imagination, just your pocketbook.”

“You know that wouldn’t be a problem if you would just give her a chance.”

“Tom, I am going to stop you right there,” Sidney said pointedly. “That is never happening, and I would have thought you would have realized that by now.”

Sidney was grateful that Tom chose not to respond and instead preoccupied himself with one of the children. Sidney decided to start blowing up beach balls which would serve two purposes, keeping his mouth shut and helping with the party decor.

______________________________________________________

“Mary?” Charlotte said to the closed bedroom door. “We are supposed to meet the guys at the beach in a few minutes. Are you ready?”

“Oh, come in!” Mary said in a very happy manner. Charlotte’s head felt ten times better, but she still felt like she had been run over by a truck. As she entered Mary’s room she saw the blonde beauty checking herself out in the mirror. She was wearing a green bikini that flattered her figure. “Do you think this one looks good? I haven’t worn it in some time.”

“You look great, Mary,” Charlotte replied. She really admired the confidence that Mary exuded. She thought for a moment about whether she exuded the same.

“It will come back to you,” Mary said as she put her arm around Charlotte.

“What will?” Charlotte asked and then sighed. “Am I that transparent?”

“I just recognize that look. I think every woman has been there, not feeling like themselves. “

“It’s stupid, really. I don’t know how I even got here.” Charlotte sensed that she had found a kindred spirit in Mary. “It’s not like me at all to feel insecure.”

“Sidney told us how hard you work. Sometimes when you focus on keeping everything else in line, you forget to take care of yourself, and then it just spirals. You’ll be fine. You’re young, you’re hot and you’ve caught the eye of Sidney.” Mary tilted her head back. “He doesn’t turn his head so easily. You must be very special to do that. Not that your worth is wrapped up with him, but I just know how hard it is to impress him.”

Charlotte started to blush.

“You two make a great couple. You should tell him to take you away for longer than a weekend. Turn off your phones and get some real relaxation. Stop this mixing business with pleasure nonsense.”

“I’ll tell him that.” Charlotte smiled, feeling a tinge of guilt for the deception that was underway.

“If you don’t, I will,” Mary stated in a demanding manner. “Now let’s get to the beach before Tom starts to have a heart attack that we didn’t show up on time.”

Charlotte squinted as she walked outside, but once her eyes adjusted to the bright sun and the sea breeze hit her face, she felt almost completely normal. Sidney’s breakfast and the long nap she had must have done its trick. The two women walked together to the beach. She texted Sidney quickly and told him that they were on their way. Soon the feeling of warm sand was between Charlotte’s toes. She could hear the children’s laughter coming from the beach and knew they probably couldn’t contain their excitement to surprise their mother. She allowed Mary to walk in front of her as they went around the bend. Even Charlotte jumped with how loud the ‘surprise’ was and she knew it was coming. Mary’s eyes welled up with tears as she saw about thirty of her closest family and friends all decked out in their vintage swimwear. As Mary started saying hello to her guests, Charlotte looked for Sidney and soon found him spread out on a bright teal-colored beach blanket. He was wearing black sunglasses and she couldn’t tell if he saw her walking towards him or not. She strolled over to the blanket and stood there for a moment wondering if he was asleep or not. She placed her bag on the ground beside him. He hadn’t moved since her eyes had been on him. The image of his naked body came rushing back to her. She tried to push it from her memory, but the sight of his bare chest made her have impure thoughts.

“Aren’t you going to say hi?” His voice brought her back to reality.

“Sorry, I thought I had forgotten something,” Charlotte said all flustered.

“Sunscreen?”

“Yes, that’s it.”

“It’s in your bag.” Sidney pointed to the sunscreen that was clearly visible from where she was standing.

“Oh, yeah. Don’t mind me.”

“Are you okay?”

“I am perfectly fine,” Charlotte said smiling a little more than was needed, but she didn’t want Sidney to somehow read her mind the way Mary had. Sidney reached towards the cooler that was nearby and grabbed a bottle of water to hand to her.

“Make sure you stay hydrated especially after your headache.”

“Thanks, and thanks again for breakfast.”

“No worries.” Sidney looked up at her. “Do you want to sit down? I mean we can move to one of the tables, but I thought you may want to layout here in the sun for a bit.”

“The blanket is just fine.”

Charlotte pulled her t-shirt off and slid off her khaki shorts to reveal a checkerboard bikini. Sidney was pretty pleased with himself and the fact that he had purchased sunglasses with such a dark tint on them. He didn’t want to seem like a creeper, but he couldn’t help but take in every inch of Charlotte’s curvy body. He wondered for a moment if her insecurities were some type of act because even a blind man would be able to tell how incredibly sexy she was. He felt like his own body would betray him at any moment and took a drink of cold water. When he looked back he finally realized what she was wearing and started to laugh.

“What is it?” Charlotte asked not looking amused.

“Did you not notice my shorts?”

“It may be shocking to you Sidney Parker, but my eyes aren’t automatically drawn to your lower body when I see you.”

“If you say so,” Sidney shrugged “I just meant that we match.”

Charlotte hadn’t even noticed his shorts since her mind had traveled elsewhere so quickly. She saw that he was right. They were both wearing checkerboard print swimwear.

“I don’t know if this will come across as cute or if people will think we are trying to blind them.” Charlotte laughed.

“We can tell them we are the new Britney and Justin.”

“Did you seriously just say that?” Charlotte couldn’t picture Sidney being a fan of either.

“I feel no shame in that statement. Britney was hot and I am man enough to say I liked a couple of *N Sync songs.”

“Only a couple?” Charlotte smirked.

“Okay, a few, but that’s what happens when you have a younger brother in love with JC Chasez. Arthur played them on repeat all the time.”

“You don’t have to justify your musical tastes, Sidney,” Charlotte said “but please don’t suggest we wear some matching denim ensemble. That is where I draw the line.”

“You got it! No denim!” Sidney crossed his heart. “I promise”

Mary and Tom were suddenly in front of them.

“What a great idea! Matching swimwear! I am shocked Tom didn’t think of that.” Mary exclaimed. “We should have our whole family match and take some photos on the beach.”

“I’m shocked, Sidney. I never pictured you as a matching outfit kind of guy.” Tom remarked. “Truly shocked.”

“I told you they make the perfect pair, Tom. They are so cute.” Mary winked at them. “Thanks, Sidney, for helping with everything. It is really great.”

“Happy Birthday, Mary!” Sidney said as he stood to give her a hug.

Mary and Tom departed and walked over to the next beach blanket full of guests. Sidney looked at Charlotte and noticed her shoulder was already turning a light shade of pink. He grabbed the sunscreen from her bag and opened it. The smell of the coconut sunscreen filled the air as he started rubbing it on her shoulders.

Charlotte closed her eyes and let out a deep breath. She enjoyed the way his hands felt on her and the light massage he was blessing her with was relaxing. Before she could allow herself any more pleasure from it, he was done. Charlotte turned to face him.

“Thanks” she said as he fell back on the blanket. She put her sunglasses on and positioned herself beside him. Both of them hardly moved as they soaked in the sun. Sidney could feel the back of Charlotte’s hand against his and without thinking took her hand in his. She gave him a quick smile. Maybe I could do this relationship thing, he thought to himself.


	6. SpringFest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> SpringFest is here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. I was hoping to have posted sooner, but life got a bit busier over the holidays. I am hoping to get back to a regular posting schedule. As always I appreciate your comments and that you take the time to read my story. Take care and stay safe!

“Good morning, Charlotte!” the gaggle of Parker children said, not in unison, as Charlotte entered the dining room. There were pastries and breakfast sausage covering the table as the kids were grabbing anything they could reach.

“Hello, children!” She replied as she walked to where the coffee pot was. She hadn’t seen Sidney when she woke up, but noticed his pillow and blanket folded neatly in the corner. She didn’t feel right about having him sleeping on the floor, but the man couldn’t be argued with. After they had returned from Mary’s party she had told him again that there would be no issue with him sleeping beside her, but he refused.

“Did you sleep well, Charlotte?” Mary asked while handing one of the younger kids a chocolate donut.

“Very well,” Charlotte replied “I had a lot of fun yesterday. I hope you enjoyed your party as much as I did.”

“I did. Tom knows how to spoil me,” Mary said as she plopped herself into one of the dining chairs. “Speaking of Tom, I know you will be spending the morning with him and I just want to say that should he say anything out of line, don’t take offense to it. I love my husband dearly, but sometimes he doesn’t think before he speaks.”

“I can’t expect that he would say anything to me that would cause offense,”

Mary gave Charlotte an odd look and took a sip of her tea.

“So, Charlotte, what do you think of our dear Sidney? Do you think you’ll keep him around for a bit?”

“Well, he is very –“ Charlotte began to say.

“Don’t answer that,” Sidney interrupted as he walked into the room. “She always starts with innocent questions and next thing you know you’ve confessed every secret that you’ve ever kept.”

Sidney winked at Charlotte and kissed her forehead as he took a seat at the other end of the table.

“Sidney Parker! I do not!” Mary laughed knowing that he was actually telling the truth. “I like Charlotte, and I just want to make sure that you are treating her well.”

“Of course, he is” Charlotte replied. “He is nothing but a gentleman.”

“And a scholar,” Sidney added

“I don’t know about that,” Tom’s voice chimed in.

Sidney rolled his eyes, and Charlotte thought that it was possible only she noticed. Mary and Tom started their own conversation about their schedules for the day and where the children would be during the SpringFest event. Sidney walked over to Charlotte and nudged her to follow him. He led her up to the attic and shut the door behind them.

“I know you have to go out with Tom today and while I expect him to keep the conversation work related, if he should bring me up, just listen more than talk.” Sidney seemed a bit concerned.

“I wasn’t nervous to go out with him, but after Mary’s warning of him coming off as offensive and you requesting that I keep my mouth shut, I don’t know anymore.” Charlotte tucked her hair behind her ears nervously.

“It should be fine. There is just a lot of history with him and me.”

“I don’t know what that would have to do with me”

Suddenly there was a knock at the door.

“May I come in?” Tom asked.

“Yes,” Sidney answered

“I have come to collect Charlotte. We need to start early if we are going to finish up before the festival begins,” Tom stated “Are you ready to part with her?”

Sidney stared at Charlotte for a moment. Her skin seemed to glow more from the sunlight she had gotten yesterday.

“Yes, she is all yours,” He replied. Sidney really wished that he could spend the day alone with her. Yesterday afternoon at the beach was one of the best afternoons he had had in recent memory. They had spoken about such a wide array of topics and even the moments of silence were pleasing.

“I’ll see you later, Sidney,” she said as she stood on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek.

______________________________________________________________

“I hope you don’t mind all the walking. I just think you would get a better feel for the future of the town and what I envision if we were on foot,” Tom explained as he walked quickly ahead of Charlotte. He was filled with so much energy, and she could tell he was overly excited about the prospect of the Austen Project expanding. He showed her around the new hotel that was being built and the shops around the main street, but their destination was the cliff tops over the town. From what she had gathered there were some legalities that he was trying to hurdle through that would allow him to build on the land. 

The climb to the top was rather steep, but when they finally reached the top the view was amazing. She could see why he would want to put his new hotel here. It was a clear day and the sea stretched for miles. In the other direction, you could see the town, which she assumed looked amazing when it was lit up at night.

“So what do you think?” Tom asked proudly. She had to admit that the smile on his face was contagious.

“It’s stunning, truly” she replied as she took inhaled the salt air. “Mr. Livingston had said there was some type of issue with the land?”

“There are actually two issues we have been running into. First of all, the funding, but I figured we can deal with that once we have the land issue situated,” Tom started to explain, “There is an old deed restriction that states that only one place of residence can be built. We also need a survey completed.”

“I don’t mean to be rude, but when you purchased the land you had to have been aware of the restriction,” Charlotte said sheepishly. As she stood up there admiring the view, she understood why nobody would want this unspoiled area to be messed with.

“We didn’t purchase it. We inherited the land. It’s in our family trust and has been in the family for generations,” Tom said. “I am assuming Sidney didn’t tell you the history of the town on your way here.”

“Not really.”

“Sanditon was founded by our great uncles’ generations ago, Colin and William Parker. Colin had invested everything he had into making this town into something great. He was an entrepreneur who wanted his name to go down in history.”

Charlotte recalled the conversation she had with Sidney in which he stated that his brother was trying to complete the dream of a man he had never met. This must have been the man he had spoken of.

“He was on his way to achieving that dream too, but a horrible fire had ripped across town. From there some of the history is a bit hazy.”

“That is horrible. How did they recover from it all?”

“From what we gather William was able to make some deals work and extend some of the loans. They were able to partially rebuild, but the town never became as popular as other destinations. It did have moderate success though.” Tom seemed to start to daydream, “Anyway, my goal is to make Sanditon into the resort town my ancestors originally envisioned. We have so much potential now. The Parker name and Sanditon to make history like they always wanted.”

“That is a great legacy to leave behind.”

“You should tell Sidney that. I wouldn’t mind having someone else in my corner for once.” Tom’s voice sounded sad but also displeased.

“That really isn’t my place,” Charlotte said, “From what I know of your brother, he seems to be pretty level headed, so I am sure if he isn’t supportive he must have his reasons.”

“Yes, he does have his reasons,” Tom sighed “if only he could get off his moral high ground.”

Charlotte knew Tom was being serious but almost had to laugh at this. He obviously didn’t know what his brother did for work.

“Well, I can’t help you with that, but I can see what we can do about the deed restriction issue. It shouldn’t be that hard to get that fixed.”

“Thank you, Charlotte.”

“We better get going.”

______________________________________________

Sidney was standing outside the Parker home keeping an eye out for Charlotte and Tom. He hated that he felt so in knots about her spending the morning with his brother. He was completely flustered and it was rather irritating. He had made a promise to himself after his last one night stand that he was done with that type of behavior. He was turning over a new leaf and rearranging his priorities. Of course a woman like Charlotte would enter his life now. If he had met her a month ago the poor woman wouldn’t have known what hit her. It wasn’t just the physical attraction he felt though. It was the easiness he felt when he was with her; it scared him. His cell phone rang and he saw that it was Mark calling. He debated not answering it, but knew his friend would continue to blow up his phone until he answered.

“Hey,” Sidney answered not able to hide the frustration in his tone “Are you checking up on me?”

“Whoa, why the hostility?” Mark responded.

“I am not being hostile. I just know that you are calling to harass me.” Sidney thought he heard Crowe laugh. “Am I on speakerphone?”

“We just wanted to call to see how it’s going. You know I’m all about customer service here at Babington’s Buff Bods,” Mark said. Sidney couldn’t help but laugh at the ridiculous name.

“Don’t ever say those words to me again. It’s just wrong,” Sidney laughed.

“Yeah, I guess it is a good thing we don’t actually have a legal business name,” Mark replied. “Seriously, though. How is everything with Charlotte? How is Tom?”

“Tom is good. We haven’t killed each other yet.” Sidney took a pause. “Charlotte is-“

“Hot!” Crowe yelled in the background.

“We kind of stalked you guys on Instagram,” Mark confessed as he giggled.

“When did you guys become a couple of teenage girls?” Sidney sighed. “I know I haven’t been on social media and I am pretty sure Charlotte hasn’t either.”

“Have you forgotten who your brother is? Tom was posting about Mary’s party every minute. I have to say that seeing you and Charlotte in your matching bathing suits made me feel kind of bummed I got sick,” Mark told him.

“I’m bummed I didn’t volunteer my own services,” Crowe piped up “I wouldn’t have come home empty-handed from that picnic like someone we know.”

“Okay, can we not talk about Charlotte?” Sidney could not handle this particular conversation at the moment. He didn’t need to tell his friends how sexually frustrated he was. How he was thankful the floor was so hard because the pain of lying on it distracted him from other sensations he was feeling. He looked up and saw Charlotte and Tom walking towards him. Their eyes met and a large smile appeared on her face. “I have to go. Charlotte and Tom are here.”

“Do everything we would do!” Crowe yelled. “Have fun Sidney!”

Mark took the phone off speaker and walked to the corner of the room away from where Crowe had been sitting.

“Sidney, in all seriousness, you deserve to have someone again. I could tell by the smile on your face that you are definitely enjoying her company. Don’t ruin it.” Mark said.

“Bye” Sidney placed his phone in his pocket. Charlotte and Tom were within speaking distance now. “How was the walk?”

“It was very nice. How has your day been?” Charlotte asked. Sidney was looking at her strangely. He looked like he was seriously contemplating his answer but considering the question, it didn’t seem like it would take that much concentration to reply.

“I helped Mary get the children to the sitter. It was pretty exciting,” Sidney said sarcastically. He felt a little embarrassed about the delay in response, but he was too focused on Charlotte’s smile to think properly.

“It sounds like it. I am sure we can find other ways to spice up the rest of the day.” Charlotte smirked. “I am going to run up and change.”

Tom and Sidney watched Charlotte as she entered the house. Tom saw the look on his brother’s face and knew he was smitten.

“You are quite taken with her,” Tom observed, “And I must say that I like her.”

“She is a very likable woman.”

“She seems much taken with you too,” Tom said “Whenever your name came up she got a little twinkle in her eye.”

“I hope my name didn’t come up too much. This was supposed to be a business meeting after all.”

“Don’t worry, I didn’t tell her anything about your past engagement.”

“I am kind of shocked you didn’t.”

“Sidney, no matter what you want to believe, I do really wish for your happiness.“

“We don’t need to go back over this again. I don’t want to be an outcast from my family anymore over some stupid situation that never should have been an issue to begin with,” Sidney pleaded with him.

“It just seems like a wasted opportunity.” Tom looked as though he was going to continue to speak, but Sidney cut him off.

“Tom!”

“Okay, okay. I’ll stop,” Tom told him. Seven years later and Tom still hadn’t let go of Sidney’s broken engagement.

________________________________________________________________________

The weather had taken a turn, and the sunny afternoon they expected for the concert ended up a muddy mess. Sidney had bought them both a couple of hooded sweatshirts when they rain started. Luckily, the rain wasn’t a consistent downpour and people still seemed to be having a good time. There were plenty of food vendors with delicious food that Sidney and Charlotte helped themselves to. Charlotte barely remembered the last time she had attended a concert, and even though these bands weren’t household names, she felt like they could be.

“Do you want a drink?” Sidney asked her. The musical acts were changing, and the crew members were on stage swapping out the gear. 

“Yes, please.”

“Do I dare offer you a Sanditon sangria? I have no doubt that Tom has the bar here serving them,” Sidney smiled.

“Let’s just stick with water for now,” Charlotte replied. “I don’t want to be hit by that truck again and I’m sure you don’t want to make me breakfast again.”

“Okay, I’ll be right back,” Sidney replied.

Sidney walked towards the bar area, and Charlotte saw him get in line. He had taken out his phone and was no doubt texting his friends back at home.

She wondered what would have happened if they had met under different circumstances. She started to picture herself at an old bookstore in some hidden aisle, reading the back of a book. He would have gotten mixed up in the literature section and asked her for help finding a book. Their eyes would have met and they would have just clicked. Her thoughts quickly escalated to him pushing her up against the bookshelf and kissing her neck. She would have tried to remain quiet so no other patrons could hear. Charlotte you are losing it, she thought to herself. She got out of her head and looked back over to where Sidney was.

Reality hit her upside the head in a very rude manner. Sidney was talking to some brunette who reminded her of Emilia Clarke. Many women must hit on him, she thought. He looked towards her and grinned before turning his attention back to the woman, who had placed her hand on Sidney’s forearm. There was a familiarity there that made her a little bit jealous. The new band took the stage, and Charlotte immediately started focusing on the music trying to ignore any feelings of jealousy. I’m losing it, she thought to herself.

Sidney hadn’t seen Daisy Atkinson in a year or so, but they had kept in regular contact. Their families had a very long and twisted history, but he was always very happy to see her. She was one of the people who he knew would always have his back regardless of his status or profession.

“I really wasn’t expecting to see you here, Sidney. You didn’t even tell me you were coming!” Daisy smiled and smacked his shoulder lightly.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t even think about it. The whole weekend happened pretty fast.” Sidney moved up a few spots in line and glanced towards Charlotte to make sure she was still where he had left her.

“So who is she?” Daisy asked.

“Who?” He didn’t know why he was trying to put up any pretense.

“Don’t play stupid, the woman you keep glancing at every few seconds,” Daisy teased.

“It’s not every few seconds.” Sidney and Daisy always had a completely honest relationship. “Is it?”

“Close enough,” Daisy laughed. “She is cute.”

“Very,” Sidney nodded in agreement.

“Sidney Parker back in Sanditon AND with a woman. I don’t even know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything,” Sidney replied as he got to the front of the line. He ordered his and Charlotte’s drink, and also bought Daisy one. When Sidney finished paying he saw Daisy staring at Charlotte. He could tell Daisy was measuring Charlotte up. “Do you want to meet her?”

“Most definitely!” Daisy replied with a big smile on her face.

“Be nice,” he instructed her.

“How could I not be?”

Charlotte watched as Sidney and the Emilia Clarke clone walked towards her. She felt herself starting to get warm. Was this woman one of his clients? Was she an old girlfriend? A current fling? It didn’t matter which category she fell into, Charlotte didn’t want her walking this way.

“Charlotte, this is my good friend Daisy,” Sidney said as he handed Charlotte her water. “Daisy, this is Charlotte.”

“It’s very nice to meet you, Charlotte,” Daisy said as she extended her hand. “You are quite lovely.”

“Thanks.” Charlotte was surprised by the compliment. “It’s nice to meet you too.”

“Are you two staying in Sanditon for long?” Daisy asked, focusing on Charlotte.

“I’m afraid not. We will just be here until tomorrow.” Charlotte replied. Daisy was even more beautiful close-up.

“That’s a shame. I haven’t seen Sidney in ages and texting just isn’t the same. I would love to have caught up.” Daisy frowned.

“Maybe next time,” Charlotte smiled “I do love meeting all of Sidney’s friends. I always hope they’ll drop some embarrassing story that I can bug him about later on.”

“Oh, I have plenty of those.” Daisy smiled. “Next time for sure! I better get back to my date.”

“It was nice seeing you,” Sidney said as he gave her a quick hug. “I promise I’ll give you a heads up next time.”

“Yes! And it was nice meeting you Charlotte.” Daisy gave Sidney a wink and was gone as fast as she had appeared.

“She seems nice,” Charlotte remarked as she continued looking in the direction that Daisy had gone.

“She is one of my oldest friends,” Sidney said as he took a drink of his beer. Daisy was looking well and appeared to be in good spirits, which was something he had always hoped for. He got lost in old memories for a moment before looking back at Charlotte who was mouthing the words of a song that was currently being played.

They watched a couple of bands, and the sun finally made its appearance. The weather began to get a little bit warmer as the clouds dissipated. The crowd seemed to be getting larger now that the weather was better. Sidney needed a break and figured that Charlotte wouldn't mind one either. She hadn't seemed as interested in the last band as she was in the first few.

"Do you want to get out of here?" Sidney asked her.

"Sure."

Sidney took her hand and led her away from the festival grounds. The moment they hit the trail she had a feeling he was taking her back up to the cliff tops that she had been at earlier.

"Be careful, it's slippery here." Sidney gripped her hand tighter.

"Maybe we should have waited until tomorrow for this,"

"No, it has to be now," Sidney said as they continued to climb.

Before she knew it they were both at the top of the cliff tops. The storm clouds had moved out to sea. She could see them in the distance still looking grey. It looked like a gorgeous painting you would find in a museum. The grey clouds against the blue sky that was slowly getting brighter. The sea waves were still looking rough.

"The sunset after an afternoon storm is amazing up here," Sidney stated "I hope you don't mind. I know you just made this climb earlier."

"Not at all. I love sunsets. What girl doesn’t?" Charlotte said as she wrapped her arms around herself. The rain had gone, but the breeze was still pretty chilly where they stood.

"May I?" He held his hands out to her. She placed her hands in his and he spun her around. She felt him wrap his arms around her. "Sorry, I know it's cold."

"I'm fine." She could feel the warmth of his body against hers. She noticed her heartbeat starting to increase.

"I've really enjoyed these past couple of days, Charlotte," He told her in an almost whisper. It had been some time since he had opened up to a woman.

Charlotte turned to face him. He gazed at her with wanting eyes. She never had a man look at her like this before and she suddenly realized how much trouble she was in. He parted his full lips just slightly and leaned his head towards her and she knew that this was it, this was the moment when everything would change. She closed her eyes in anticipation.

"Sidney! Charlotte!" Tom's voice called out.

Sidney was startled and stepped backward into a very slippery patch of mud. Before he knew it he had fallen flat onto the ground. Charlotte could see his face start to turn extremely red. She would have laughed in other circumstances, but in this instance she was mad. She had never wanted to be kissed so badly in her life.

"Tom!" Sidney shouted. Charlotte tried helping him up, but he was much bigger than her and she ended up falling down beside him. They were both covered in mud. After a few tries, they finally got good footing and were able to get up.

"Tom, you should say you are sorry. Now, look at them! They will have to go home to an empty house and take a hot shower." Mary winked at Charlotte.

"I should have known Sidney would be up here. Sunsets after a storm, right?" Tom said. Sidney was not amused. Charlotte didn't know if this was something that Sidney did often and right now didn't want to think about it. She just wanted to get the mud out of her hair.

"Are you okay?" Charlotte asked Sidney. "Your fall didn't look too pleasant."

"I'm fine. I'll probably feel it in the morning though," He replied glaring at Tom.

"We should go," Charlotte said, "We'll see you later."

Charlotte nudged Sidney along and they made their way back down the hill. What a ruined moment, Sidney thought to himself. Tom insinuating that he had brought other women up there. The whole situation made him furious. A missed kiss, covered in mud, and now a back that would be sore in the morning. He didn't want to come off as a player to Charlotte, but what else could she think. He already had his profession working against him.

Neither of them said much as they walked home. The mud had begun to dry and typically Sidney would have been more careful at getting the house dirty, but he had a feeling Mary would make Tom clean it up anyways. He had let Charlotte take a shower first. It had been a long day, but when he exited the bathroom after his own shower he saw Charlotte sitting on the bed, halfway under the covers, smiling at him. She had pulled back the covers next to her.

"I am not going to take 'no' for an answer," she said as she patted the space beside her. "You are not sleeping on the floor after you have injured yourself"

"I'm not injured-"

"Sidney," she raised an eyebrow at him. "I promise I won't bite."

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Charlotte."

"Oh, you like it like that." She smiled.

Sidney climbed into the bed and feeling her leg brush up against his was enough to cause a stir. It was colder tonight than it had been and they both covered themselves up. Sidney turned on his side to face Charlotte and she did the same.

"Charlotte, I feel like I need to tell you that I haven't done this escort thing for a while," Sidney started to explain "I just feel like you should know that."

"Can I ask you why you even started? I mean, your family seems pretty well off."

"I'm not blaming Mark, but I'm blaming Mark," Sidney smirked.

"He does seem pretty tough," Charlotte laughed.

"In all honesty, it was fast money. Tom and I had a falling out and he cut me off of the family trust while I was at the university. Crowe wasn't the best at handling his money, and Mark came up with this crazy idea that college girls could hire us as dates for parties. It eventually led to something more than we had initially thought, but we were young and didn't think much of it." Sidney let out a breath "Now it is a whole other story, and if Tom found out I sullied the Parker name he would lose it."

"I mean young men usually have a decent amount of sex, so why not get paid for it," Charlotte tried to justify the choice. It wasn’t anything she would ever choose to do, but how could she judge someone else’s choices.

"It wasn't all sex. Some people are just lonely and want someone to hang out with for an afternoon. It's companionship a lot of the time, but it's also just making someone feel good and seen."

"You're good at that."

"At what?"

"You are good at making someone feel seen,” Charlotte swallowed. She could feel the heat radiating off his body. She noticed a small freckle on his neck and thought of kissing it.

"Charlotte, I-" Sidney wanted to tell her that he felt something between them. He felt something real and it wasn't an act. He didn’t know where any of this would go, but he wanted to give it a chance. He couldn’t say another word though because she had pressed her lips to his. He could tell by the initial touch of her lips that she was unsure of herself, but as he opened his mouth slightly the force behind her lips intensified. The tip of her tongue lightly grazed his, and he couldn't believe the electricity between them. No other woman had ever made him feel this way. He cupped her face with his hands and stared at her for a moment. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever laid his eyes on. He was lost.


	7. Waking Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like the next two chapters. I have had so many different ideas and scenes playing out in my head for this story that I kind of hit a wall. I am still sticking with my original plan for the story, but my mind was spinning with places to go. Anyways, as you know I like keeping my stories short, so we are getting towards the end here. I have enjoyed all of your comments and they really have helped nudge me along. For those of you who have written asking how I was doing after these long absences, I just want to want to say that those comments have been so very kind. The past year has been such a crazy whirlwind for all of us and we all should be checking in on each other just as you have. Sorry, for this delay. I really didn't plan on taking so long to post. Anyways, enough of me rambling. Stay safe out there.

When Charlotte opened her eyes the next morning, the room was still dark. It wasn’t typical for her to wake up so early, but after last night she couldn’t wait to wake up and see Sidney again, even though he had been beside her all night. She looked at him now and could just make him out in the dark. He looked so peaceful as his head lay on the pillow. She snuggled in closer to him and studied his features. She noticed that his hair had a slight curl to it. His eyebrows weren’t too bushy or thin. The bridge of his nose was straight and seemed flawless. She looked at his mouth. Oh that mouth, she thought to herself. She took one of her fingers and lightly traced it for a moment. He twitched. She thought back to the night before. She couldn’t believe she had been bold enough to kiss him. It wasn’t in her nature to make the first move, but with him in that moment, she knew she needed to or she would regret it for the rest of her life.

The moment their lips had touched an electric surge went through her entire body. She couldn’t remember any other man causing her body to react like that to just a kiss. She closed her eyes and it was like she could feel his warm breath against her neck again. The way his lips barely touched her skin as his tongue traced its way down her neck. He kissed her gently on her collar bone before looking up and smiling at her. She knew he was making sure that she was okay with him proceeding. She bit her lip nervously as she adjusted her body as he moved on top of her. He held himself up with one arm as his other hand found her waist. The way he slowly moved his hand up her shirt made it known that he would be taking his sweet time. It was both thrilling and irritating. She had wanted him that very second. His hand cupped her breast, and he allowed his fingertips to sweep across her aroused nipples. She could feel herself starting to pulsate. It was as though Sidney had set her body on fire and only he had the ability to put it out. She reached her arms up, placed her hands on his face, and pulled him to her. She kissed him forcefully before sliding her hands down his back to lift up his shirt. Without hesitation, he helped her remove it. Charlotte took a deep breath trying to contain herself. He paused for a moment as she touched his chest. Both of them looked at each other knowing this was a moment they could never come back from. She boldly moved her hands to his pajama bottoms and tugged on them. Sidney complied with Charlotte’s request and freed himself from all clothing. She stared at him, taking in the sight of his glorious body, every inch of it.  
  
“Charlotte-“ he began to speak before she placed her fingertips to his mouth. “Shhh”  
  
Charlotte felt like a possessed woman. Sidney quickly picked up on the fact that she had now taken charge. She took off her shirt and tossed it onto the floor as Sidney slid off her panties. They were both fully exposed to each other for the first time, but there was a familiarity that made it seem like they had been here a million times before.  
  
Charlotte signaled Sidney to get on his back as she straddled him. She could feel the hardness of his manhood against her thigh. As much as she wanted to take him now she wanted this moment to last forever. He grabbed the back of her head and pulled her down to kiss him again. The way his tongue explored her mouth made her envision it exploring other parts of her body. She jerked slightly at the thought of it before releasing herself from their kiss. Sidney arched his back and looked towards the ceiling as she made her way down his stomach. He flinched as she took him in her mouth.  
  
“Charlotte-“ he cried out. She felt powerful being able to provide him pleasure in this way, but before she could revel too long in the power she held, he lifted her from him and flipped her on to her back.  
  
“Two can play at this game,” Sidney smirked.

  
“You didn’t even let me-“Charlotte tried to speak. “Shhh.” he said, repeating the same actions she had done to him earlier. She could feel the heat radiating off of his body. He grabbed her wrists and raised her arms above her head.  
  
Sidney gently nibbled her ear lobe before kissing her in a way she had never been kissed before. She must have been crazy but this kiss had a passion behind it that made her feel like she was truly wanted, and the look he gave her seemed to support it. It wasn’t just the look of a man who was aching for his needs to be met or a man that was trying to be hot shit with his skills in the bedroom; it was a look she had never seen before. It made her body feel more turned on than it already was. She thought she would explode. Was it possible to orgasm by being looked at? Before her thought had finished fully forming in her head, she was quickly brought back to her body. With each small kiss Sidney had inched closer and closer to her most intimate parts. Charlotte soon felt his warm breath between her thighs. A second later, she felt his tongue dancing across her most sensitive area. She let out a small scream before biting lightly on her hand in an effort to not make any noise. She could feel the tension inside her building to heights she had never experienced before.

“I need you, Sidney,” she whimpered. “I need you now!”

Without hesitation, Sidney repositioned himself above her, gave her another kiss, and plunged into her with a force that made her feel like she would explode in an instant. He felt wonderful. The room disappeared around them as they moved together in a beautiful rhythm. Their noses barely touched as Charlotte reached her first peak of ecstasy. She could barely catch her breath before feeling more tension build within her. Every thrust brought her closer and closer to exploding. He pressed his lips against hers and as he gave her nipple a gentle pinch, she could feel her second release coming. It was stronger than the first one and she began to cry out, but Sidney placed his hand over her mouth to deafen the sound as he came.

He rolled off of her and they both stared at the ceiling, out of breath and completely spent. She had never experienced something so satisfying, but even more than that; she had never experienced something so beautiful. Charlotte had been shocked when he pulled her closer to him. The way they had fallen asleep in each other’s arms was intimate, and if she had to describe it, she may dare to say it was loving.

Suddenly, Sidney stirred beside her and brought Charlotte back to the room. She had been lost in the memory of last night longer than she had expected, but she knew that wouldn’t be the last time she would relive that night.

Charlotte slid out of bed without waking Sidney and put on some clothes. She wanted to head down to the shore to take some photos before the town woke up. She snuck quietly out of the house and walked down towards the shoreline. She kicked off the shoes she was wearing and let her feet sink into the cool sand. There was a chill in the air, but the warm sun was rising over the ocean waves. There were a few clouds in the sky that made the sun rays look even more magical, as they broke through and shot up towards the blue sky.

After taking several photographs, Charlotte sat down in the cool sand and watched the waves. The sounds of the waves breaking at the shore were hypnotizing. She thought about how relaxed she actually felt and tried to remember the last time she had felt this way. She felt light, like something had been lifted from her and she couldn’t put her finger on what exactly it was. She knew a night with Sidney wouldn’t have caused any of this, but no doubt he did have something to do with it. She stood up and walked down the beach kicking sand as she looked for shells. A handsome man with messy curly hair ran by with his dog and smiled at her. She nodded and grinned. She felt as though she was walking on air. She thought of all the times Alison had told her to take some time for herself and get away.

Suddenly, her cell phone rang. It had scared her enough to make her jump. It was Alison. That girl always knew when she was thinking of her.

“You almost gave me a heart attack!” Charlotte laughed.

“You sound like you are in a good mood,” Alison replied, Charlotte could swear she could feel her sister’s smile through the phone. “I am assuming yesterday went well.”

“I can’t believe I am saying this, but it was better than I could have imagined,”

“You slept with Sidney, didn’t you?”

“Everything doesn’t revolve around sex, Ali.” Charlotte couldn’t help but smile again thinking of Sidney.”But I did.” She confessed.

“If I’m honest, I didn’t think you would actually get the nerve to go there.”

“Oh, we went there and it is a trip I wouldn’t mind taking again and again.”

“So, I take it he was better than your last experience?”

“Who? I don’t think the names Edward and Sidney should ever be in the same conversation.” Charlotte busted out laughing, and Alison joined right in. “I can’t believe I ever wasted my time with him, and more importantly, I can’t believe I let the way he treated me hang over my head for so long. I have definitely gotten over that disaster.”

“That is great news. That guy is a doofus in a nice suit. I won’t say I told you so though. I am glad you were able to let loose and have some fun.”

“Me too! I really needed this weekend away more than I thought. I feel like I was able to finally clear my head. I went to a concert, hung out with some new people, and had a great time with a really great guy.”

“Dang, one weekend with Sidney and you are a new woman,”

“It wasn’t just Sidney, I mean he is wonderful, but I think it was just this whole weekend in Sanditon. I think it helped me break out of this bubble that I had put myself in,” Charlotte paused for a moment wondering if she should tell Alison how she did feel a connection with him that she had never felt with anyone else, but she didn’t want to sound like some teenage girl with her head in the clouds. “Anyways, let’s just be happy that I feel a lot better. Not saying everything is now butterflies and rainbows, but I think I can now start focusing on other things. I’m ready to start checking things off that bucket list of mine. I’ve been too wrapped up in work.”

“Is Sidney going to be one of those other things?”

“We’ll see where it all goes. This is reality Alison, it isn’t like you spend some weekend with a guy you randomly let and fall head over heels in love.” Charlotte said and then glanced at her watch. “Alison, I have to go. I have been here a bit longer than I expected, and we are supposed to be hitting the road soon.”

“Okay, safe travels! Call me when you get home. I love you.”

“Love you too!”

Charlotte headed back up the beach and made her way to the Parker house. She slipped off her shoes at the front door to avoid bringing sand into the house. She shut the door quietly and made her way towards the stairs. She could hear Tom and Mary talking in the kitchen. They seemed to be arguing, but she couldn’t really tell. As she took her first step up the stairs, she heard Sidney’s name mentioned. She knew she shouldn’t eavesdrop, but curiosity took over any sense of judgment.

“Tom, I honestly don’t know why you always seem to dredge up the past especially where Sidney is concerned. The engagement ended for a reason, and it ended years ago,” Charlotte heard Mary state.

“I just don’t know how he could walk away from Daisy.”

“Be honest, Tom, you don’t know why he walked away from the money.” There was an irritated tone in Mary’s voice.

“I’m not going to lie that it would help me right now if I had a brother who could invest in the Austen Project.”

“Tom, there are several problems here. First, the engagement is over and years have passed. They both have moved on. Secondly, it was archaic thinking for someone to put money aside with the stipulation that they marry someone from a certain family. It doesn’t even make sense. Thirdly, instead of pushing your brother to marry someone he no longer wants to be with maybe you should have focused on trying to fight the will itself. Lastly, and most importantly, Sidney’s happiness should matter over any amount of money.”

“You know I had someone look at the will before and they said nothing could be done.” Tom sighed.”I mean he could have married her and then got divorced.”

“Yes, after they would have been married for five years! Your great-grandfather must have been drinking when he had that will drawn up. To put money aside for the first male heir who married an Atkinson is crazy. I mean if you wanted the money bad enough you should have married one.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Mary.” Charlotte could hear what sounded like Tom getting up and pushed herself closer to the wall.”I mean maybe had I known about the interest that money has earned.” Tom teased.

“That’s enough with this conversation,” Mary said sternly. “Don’t make me call your mother!”

“You wouldn’t,” Tom dared her.

“If you won’t listen to me, I know she can get you in line,” Mary said before adding. “Plus, you have to admit that your brother has never seemed as happy as he has these past few days. After his engagement ended, it wasn’t like he just lost a fiancée. He also lost his hardheaded brother. It wasn’t right, Tom. You should have been there for him. He had his dreams and you had yours.”

“I suppose you are right.”

Charlotte had heard enough. She tried to ignore the lump she had felt in her throat. She wasn’t shocked that Sidney had been engaged to Daisy. She was beautiful, and their rapport was so familiar and comfortable when they saw each other. She walked slowly up the stairs. It was just the past and lots of things have happened since then, she thought to herself.

She opened the attic door quietly, but quickly saw Sidney sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Good morning,” he beamed at her. The smile on his face washed away any doubt she had felt a few moments before. “I was wondering where you went.”

“I wanted to get some sunrise photos of the beach and some pictures of the town while the streets were still empty.”

“Were you able to get some good shots?” He gazed at her as he stood up and walked towards her.

“Yes, they were perfect.” Charlotte felt like she was going to start blushing because of the way he was looking at her. He started to give her that devilish grin of his when his phone went off.

“Sorry, I have to get this. Mark has been having some work issues.” Sidney gave her a disappointed look and strolled to the corner of the room.

Charlotte signaled to him that she was getting in the shower. She grabbed a comfortable outfit to wear on the ride home, and her makeup bag, then headed to the bathroom. She could hear Sidney’s muffled voice through the bathroom door, and he didn’t seem too happy with whatever was going on. She got in the shower and after a few minutes realized that any fantasy of Sidney joining her was probably not going to happen. She wondered what would happen when they got back to London, would this just be a weekend fling or could it actually develop into something more. She felt like they were starting something real. The way he had smiled at her when she walked through the door made her fill with warmth. She stopped herself from thinking any further. She didn’t need to over think anything. She didn’t want to hope for something that Sidney may not want. She really didn’t know where his head was at. He obviously liked her, but did he like her enough. She took a deep breath and decided she wouldn’t push it. Wherever this was meant to land, it would.

After Charlotte’s shower, she quickly dressed and pulled her hair up in bun. She put some serum and lotion on her face, and then decided that she would skip makeup. She had no plans when she got home except for curling up with a good book and a cup of tea. There was no need to dress up for nothing. She made sure the bathroom was clean and had noticed that Sidney had already packed up the belongings he had in here earlier.

She walked into the room and saw Sidney standing their bags. He looked good in his pair of jeans and an old Sex Pistols t-shirt. He was staring intently at his phone as she put her last few items in her bag. He finally broke out of his trance and realized she was standing there. He looked at her and smiled. Something was wrong, but she got a feeling she shouldn’t ask about it.

“You ready?” he asked.

“Yep.” She let him lead the way out of the bedroom. Charlotte took one last glance at the attic and closed her eyes briefly. Just long enough to burn the memory of this weekend and the last night they had spent together into her mind.

The drive back home was more beautiful than when they had arrived. The sun was shining and the sky seemed bluer than he had ever seen before. He kept replaying their night together in his head. He had never felt so alive, so on fire for anyone as he had with Charlotte. There was something about her that touched the center of his being and lit it up, and he loved it. It made him nervous, and if he was honest with himself, it scared him. The moment they had met he knew that this woman could be a challenge. He now knew that he was in it and wanted to take that step. It had been years since he had had actual feelings for someone. It had been years since he had ever been honest with someone of the opposite sex and the thought of being vulnerable made him a little queasy. All he knew was that the second their eyes had met he felt a kinship. He thought at the time that he was crazy, but the more time he spent with Charlotte the more he felt at home.

He was irritated at Mark. All he wanted to do was take Charlotte home, tell her how he felt, and then take her to bed. Unfortunately, Mark had called with a work emergency, and his next few days would be wrapped up with trying to get that under control before their app launched.

Sidney looked at Charlotte who was currently sleeping with her head against Priscilla’s window. The sun was shining on her face and highlighted the light freckles on her nose. She looked beautiful. He had hoped that she would wake up so that they could talk, but the weekend had been eventful, and she had woken up at the crack of dawn to take those photos of Sanditon. He knew she needed the rest.

Charlotte was still asleep as they pulled up to her house. Sidney gently nudged her awake.

“We’re here,” He said softly.

“What? How did that happen?” she jumped up and looked around. She felt like they had just said goodbye to Tom and Mary.

“Well, you pretty much fell asleep the moment we hit the road.”

“And you didn’t wake me up?” Charlotte suddenly felt downhearted.

“I thought you probably needed the rest.”

“You are probably right” Charlotte tried to give a small smile. She wasn’t going to push anything. That was the plan. Sidney got out of the car and walked around to open her door. She got out and stretched. He could see her stomach slightly exposed as her t-shirt lifted with the stretch. He cursed Mark again.

He grabbed her suitcase out of the back. His free hand casually touched the small of her back as they walked to the door. She took her keys out and unlocked the door.

“Well, we did it.” Charlotte threw her fists in the air and did a fake cheer, she immediately felt like an idiot after doing it.

“We did,” Sidney replied, “I hope your trip will score you some points with Mr. Livingston.”

“I’m sure it will,” she said before taking a breath “I know you’ve spent the morning driving. Do you want to come in? I can make you some tea.”

Sidney took a step closer to her. He pushed a strand of stray hair behind her ear before allowing his fingertips to glide down the side of her cheek.

“I would, but Mark is having a work crisis and I told him I would head straight home to help him get this issue solved,” Sidney said solemnly.”I’ll call you.”

“Okay, that’s fine” Charlotte faked a smiled before Sidney leaned in and kissed her. She wished in that moment that he felt the same force pulling them together that she did. His lips lingered on hers a little longer than she had expected. He finally pulled back and quickly jogged back to the car. He gave her a small wave before climbing in.

She stood there for a moment and watched as Sidney drove off. A small thought popped up in the back of her mind and she suddenly hoped that his work emergency wasn’t the same type of emergency that had led him to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, he did #WrapItUp


	8. Back to Reality

The time ticked by slower without Charlotte nearby, and the drive home seemed like an eternity. He would have given anything to have stayed with her, but now was not the time to abandon Mark. After they had graduated, they had planned on creating a shopping app. They had both come up with the idea when they were trying to track down a specific product for one of Mark’s clients. Sidney had already had enough of the escort thing, but Mark insisted they keep it up. It wasn’t hard to persuade Sidney at the time because the money wasn’t just good, it was great, and it didn’t seem to be slowing down. Sidney had been able to invest the majority of the cash he made while he was trying to figure life out, but soon he knew he wanted something more. He hadn’t realized how long he had been stuck in a comfort zone that didn’t seem to want to let him go. It wasn’t that he had a bad life. He loved his life. He had great friends, an active social life, and he had a decent family. He just felt like it was missing something. One day after going on a date with one of the most offensive women Sidney had ever met, he realized he was done. He didn’t want to waste another day not working towards meeting their goals. Sidney started working as a freelance software developer with hopes that one day Mark would finally jump on the app ideas that they had. Sidney’s freelance work was going better than he had expected though, and soon he had become a hot commodity. It was challenging and gave him some freedom. After his freelance work took off, he finally had a serious discussion with Mark and they had agreed to start scheduling time to work on the app. Crowe picked up some of Sidney’s clients, which resulted in a couple of angry calls to Mark, but overall Crowe provided these women a pretty wild time from what he had heard.

The past six months Sidney had focused the majority of his waking hours perfecting and researching what was needed for this app. He liked working on the more technical side of things. He knew that their app wasn’t some groundbreaking thing, but he had hoped it would be useful to others, which is really what his main goal was. Mark was excited to get it off the ground, so they could move on to his idea for a brand new dating app. He felt like they had gained a rather unique experience with their line of work and that the knowledge they had learned from the women they had dated could help create something wonderful. Sidney thought that idea could really take off too. They finally had multiple creative avenues to venture down and would be able to put all this escort business behind them.

“Sidney! Thank God you are here!” Mark said before Sidney’s body was even over the threshold.

“You know I wasn’t that concerned about this emergency until I just saw your face.” Sidney felt his stomach sink. “What happened?”

Mark kept running his hands through his hair and Sidney thought he would start ripping it out at any second.

“The whole thing crashed.”

“What? How did it crash?” Sidney tried to remain calm.

“I don’t know. Everything was running slow last night when I was testing some of the features out and this morning it is like it imploded.”

“Damn it!” Sidney stomped off to his bedroom and threw his bag in the corner of the room. They had been so close to getting this off the ground. The only plans he wanted to make right now were ones where Charlotte was involved. He didn’t want to fix a possible catastrophe. He took his phone out of his pocket and tried opening the beta version of the app. He sat there staring at the screen as he waited for it to load. Sidney loved Mark, but he wasn’t the most tech-savvy guy and mostly focused on the marketing side of things. Sidney thought for a moment that this could just be a case of user error. The icon on his screen finally stopped spinning and it looked like the app was opening. Just as he thought that Mark had been mistaken, his phone froze. He tried restarting it and still nothing happened. This isn’t good, he thought to himself. He took a deep breath and tried to remain calm as he walked back to where Mark was.

“Okay, we can fix this. I don’t think it’s the server. I think there is an error in the coding somewhere that is causing it not to function properly. I’m going to have to dig around and see. Do you know if Crowe was doing any work on it?”

“No?” Mark said with uncertainty in his voice.

“You don’t sound confident. Was he on the computer or not?” Sidney stared at him.

“I don’t know what he was doing, but he was in the vicinity of the computer yesterday morning.” Mark could see Sidney’s face starting to turn red.”You know him; the only time he actually gets work on the app done is when you are around. When does Crowe actually like working if women aren’t involved? I just assumed he was ordering food for his hangover.”

“Okay, stop talking, next thing I know you are going to tell me he was having sex on my desk,” Sidney said as he walked over to the workstation and started logging in.

“Not this time.” Mark grimaced.

Sidney pushed his chair back from the desk.

“I’ll grab you some disinfectant wipes,” Mark declared “Just to be safe.”

“Also, can you make some coffee?” Sidney yelled to Mark.

“Yes,” Mark yelled back. “See, this is what happens when we try to go legit.”

Sidney shook his head. _It’s going to be a long day_ , he thought.

It felt like it took forever for Alison to finally pick up the phone. Charlotte hadn’t spoken to her sister since their conversation on the beach. They had been playing phone tag for the past few days. The moment Charlotte had gotten back to the office; Mr. Livingston had wanted to know all about Sanditon and Charlotte’s thoughts on the Austen project. She also had to start researching all the deed restriction issues that Tom was having. She had been so wrapped up in paperwork and trying to find a surveyor that would be willing to travel to Sanditon, that she didn’t even know what day it was. 

“Hey, Charlotte!” Alison said sounding slightly out of breath. “How are you?”

“I’m good. I’m just picking up Edward’s slack as usual. I knew that I would be helping with the project when they sent me down there, but I didn’t expect Edward to completely wash his hands of all of it now that I am back.” Charlotte let out a sigh. “Anyways, work doesn’t matter. How are you?”

“I’m just out for a run. I needed to get out of the house before I lost my mind. Dad has suddenly decided to learn to play the violin. I need my own place before I have ear plugs permanently inserted into my ears.”

“I don’t think that is possible, Alison.” Charlotte laughed. “Maybe you should tell him to go play near the stables. I am sure the pigs could enjoy it.”

“Are you trying to get me in trouble?” Alison squealed.

“No, not at all. How is mom?”

“She is doing better than I am. Suddenly, and conveniently enough, she has joined multiple clubs that all happen to meet at the time of day Dad is usually practicing,” she laughed “Mom is sneaky.”

“That sounds like something she would do.”

“So, are we going to keep talking about our parents or are you going to tell me about Sidney?”

“What about him?”

“What do you mean what about him? Have you guys planned an official date yet?”

“He hasn’t called. He dropped me off, told me he had a work emergency, and I haven’t seen him since. “

“That seems strange. It sounded like you two had hit it off.”

“I thought we had, but after I didn’t hear from him I decided to give him a call, but it went straight to voice mail. He never returned the call, so I guess it is what it is. I mean this was just an arrangement. I probably read too much into it.”

“I’m sorry, Charlotte. You seemed so happy last time I spoke to you that I really hoped you had found a good one.”

“I had a fun weekend. It was great and I don’t regret any of it. It may have all been a ruse, but it did show me what my future could hold. I just need find the right guy to have that future with; Sidney just isn’t it.”

“Maybe you could try calling again,” Alison suggested. She knew her sister like the back of her hand and had no doubt that Charlotte was downplaying how much she had enjoyed Sidney’s company.

“Alison, I’ve read ‘He’s Just Not That Into You’ and have seen the movie. It’s really okay. I’m not taking it personal. I felt something and he didn’t. It’s probably for the best. I am finally getting back to my normal self and probably don’t need some guy to come in and wreck my plans.” Charlotte believed what she was saying, but she would be lying to herself if she didn’t feel a bit disappointed. “Plus, I know this sounds crazy, but I kind of wonder if he is still hung up on his ex.”

“His ex?” Alison sounded like she had perked up.

“Yes, the day at the festival I met this absolutely stunning woman. Who just happened to be just as nice as she was beautiful. They seemed very chummy and I thought maybe she was an ex-client, but he had introduced her as his friend. She was very charming. Anyways, I overheard his brother talking to his wife and apparently they had been engaged. What is even crazier is that it sounded like he would inherit money if he married her.”

“What? Were you hungover when you heard this conversation?”

“No! I know it sounds like I would have been. I know what I heard though.”

“That sounds like a horrible thing to have held over your head. Of course, the fact he didn’t marry her says something.”

“Yes, it really does. Maybe it is better he didn’t call. I don’t need to be wrapped up in all of that drama. That Parker family is lovely, but they are interesting to say the least.” Charlotte knew that wasn’t entirely truthful.

“That’s it! I am coming to visit this weekend!” Alison declared. She sensed that Charlotte could use some girl time. “It’s been too long and we need to have some fun. My ears can find some peace and maybe I can find you the one.”

“I would love for you to come and see me! We could go out. I’ll take Friday off, so we can have a long weekend together.”

“Boy, Charlotte! Taking Friday off? That weekend in Sanditon did do you some good.”

“I deserve it and I have the time. Let me know when your train comes in and I’ll meet you there.”

“Definitely! I’ll book a ticket for tomorrow. I’ll give you the precise time once it’s booked.”

“I forgot that tomorrow is Thursday already!”

“Is that too soon?” Alison asked.

“Not at all! I will get to planning. See you soon, sis!” Charlotte replied, Alison hung up before she even said goodbye. Any thought of Sidney had quickly vanished from her mind as she focused on a new weekend agenda. She started thinking about the places that Alison and she could visit. She took out the list of restaurants she wanted to try and placed it on her desk. She closed her eyes, did a quick spin in her chair, and then pointed. The Sweet Escape it is, she thought to herself and smiled.

“And what won’t you ever do again?” Sidney asked sternly.

“Sidney, I’m not a child,” Crowe complained as he searched for his wallet.

“I want to hear you say it,” Sidney replied forcefully.

“Seriously?” Crowe said as he finally found what he was looking for in the couch cushions.

“Yes, you just wasted almost 5 days of my life, and you crashed my phone!”

Crowe let out a hesitant sigh and stared at his friend. Sidney had been terribly bossy and angry while he was cleaning up the mess that Crowe had unintentionally created.

“Technically, now that you went back through the coding, the app is better now than it was before I broke it.”

“That’s not the point.” Sidney wasn’t backing down even though Crowe did have a point. Sidney had been laser-focused on getting the app back up and running. He blocked out everything around him and had lost track of time, but it ended up being beneficial since he found a few other kinks that needed to be worked out. The app was perfect now and ready to be launched in the next two weeks. Everything was on track professionally, so now he just needed to reconnect with Charlotte.

“Crowe, just apologize so we can all move on with our lives. I’m getting hungry over here,” Mark interjected.

“Fine,” Crowe got onto his knees “Oh Sidney, please have mercy on me. I swear I will never drunkenly play on your work computer ever again.”

“What else?”

“I will also never have drunk sex on your desk when you guys are gone,” Crowe clasped his hands together “Forgive me!”

“Stop being so dramatic,” Sidney laughed and pulled his friend to his feet. “Seriously, though. Don’t do it again.”

“I won’t,” Crowe said.

“So where do you idiots want to eat at?” Mark asked as he was scrolling through his phone looking for something nearby.

“Sophia said that The Sweet Escape is a good place,” Crowe offered up as he put on his shoes.

“Don’t you need reservations for that place?” Sidney asked as he straightened out his hair.

“I don’t think so. I’ve heard good things about it too. We should try it.” Mark grabbed his wallet and keys from the counter. He noticed Sidney had been staring at his phone. “Is something wrong, Sidney?”

“I had transferred all my old data to my new phone, but Charlotte’s number never transferred over.” Sidney felt discouraged. “I told her I would call her.”

“You actually told a woman that you would call her! Have I entered the Twilight Zone?” Mark had picked up on the fact that Sidney had a fondness for Charlotte, but he had always been so stubborn with matters of the heart.

“I can call women, Mark. Why are you acting so surprised?”

“Tell me the last time you willingly called a woman. It can’t be a client or that girl who works at Franco’s Pizzeria.” Mark crossed his arms knowing Sidney wouldn’t be able to answer.

“Yeah, ordering food doesn’t count!” Crowe as he walked to the bathroom.

Sidney stood there looking perplexed as he searched his memory trying to think of some woman who had caught his eye. He always felt too busy or just wasn’t interested in it. He liked being single and had his needs met. At the time he didn’t think he had been missing out on much, but he was wrong. 

“When did you tell her you would call her?” Mark suddenly seemed concerned. The few times Sidney had popped his head up from his desk was just to tell them some cute thing Charlotte did. He knew that Sidney hadn’t spoken to anyone since he came home though, since he had been working nonstop.

“When I dropped her off on Sunday,” Sidney replied innocently enough.

“Five days ago?”

“Yes, why?” Sidney didn’t know why Mark seemed so serious. “It wasn’t that long ago and I ended up having to get a new phone if you remember correctly.”

“Man, you are out of the timeframe of calling a woman back. You have to do it within 3 days of a date.” Crowe laughed. “Don’t you know the rules?”

“There are no rules, Crowe. That 3-day rule was some old fashioned nonsense people followed.”

“Those rules really apply to first dates,” Mark said.

“Thanks, Mark,” Sidney said as he put his hand on Mark’s shoulder.

“Yes, this is worse. You spent an entire weekend with her and haven’t called. That’s not good, my friend. I mean you slept with her.” Mark just stood there shaking his head.

“I never told you that I slept with her,” Sidney exclaimed as he removed his hand from Mark’s shoulder and walked over to grab his jacket.

“You didn’t have to. There is no way you would have reacted to Crowe’s blunder so calmly if you hadn’t. You walked in with a totally different vibe. Actually, I’ve never seen you so relaxed before.”

“Vibe? I didn’t have a vibe,” Sidney protested.

“I agree with Mark.” Crowe chimed in.

“You weren’t even here when I came home,” Sidney said.

“The fact that I am even standing here now proves that you had a vibe,” Crowe laughed.“I don’t know why you are even denying it. The girl is hot, and I applaud you for finally going after something that _you_ want.”

“I go after things I want. I don’t know what you are even talking about. You both are being absurd.”

“Don’t forget how long we have known you. Sex and relationships are two different things. When was the last time you went out with a woman more than once?” Mark stated “What else did you say when you told her you would call her?”

“Nothing much. I can’t remember. She asked me in for tea. I told her you had an emergency. She said fine; I kissed her and left.” Sidney suddenly started feeling nervous.

“She said she was fine?” Mark smacked his hand to his forehead. “Not good.”

“That’s like the kiss of death. No woman is ever ‘fine’. Even I know that. You should have gone in for tea.” Crowe stood there shaking his head disapprovingly. “Have we taught you nothing?”

“How could I go in for tea while you were over here crashing the app?” Everything they were saying was making Sidney’s head spin. “Plus, a woman can be fine. It’s just a word. Not everything is a rule or some type of game.”

“I don’t know. Any time any woman has told me that they are fine, well, it’s ended with me in the dog house.” Crowe said.

“I don’t think that your experiences count, Crowe. Typically when women say ‘fine’ to you there is an expletive in front of it, followed by a ‘Get the hell out!” Mark teased him.

“Good point.” Crowe opened the front door. “Can we just go get food? I’m starving and Sidney’s love life will still be a raging fire tomorrow.”

“Thanks,” Sidney rolled his eyes at Crowe and turned to Mark.”I don’t even have her number. Do you still have it?”

Mark clenched his teeth “No”

“What? You keep every number that comes across your phone.”

“Charlotte just didn’t seem like the type that would need our services again. Don’t forget I have had an actual conversation with her. She is a lovely girl and beautiful. I doubt she will be single for long.”

Sidney knew of Charlotte’s positive attributes.

“You can just go to her office tomorrow and explain the situation. Let’s just eat now.” Crowe followed Mark outside.

“Good idea,” Sidney told Crowe. His stomach was twisted in knots. He really hoped that he hadn’t screwed up anything with her. They were in such a strange predicament and he didn’t even know where they stood. _Would they even be considered friends right now?,_ he wondered. The whole set up may have started as a business arrangement, but their night together was most definitely real. He knew to his core that she was different. She was special.

“This place is busy,” Alison remarked as she looked at the line that wrapped around the building. “I’m so excited. As you know there are only so many places you can eat in Willingden. It’s nice to go to a place where the cocktail menu contains more than a beer and two types of a margarita.”

“I’ve wanted to eat here for a long time. The other attorneys at the firm always have rave reviews. They come here for lunch often, but I’ve always been too busy to join them.” Charlotte pulled her sweater tighter. It was chillier than usual tonight.

“I’m just glad you made the reservation in time.”

“We’re really just lucky they had a cancellation” Charlotte smiled at Alison and then pulled her in for a hug. “You have no idea how happy I am that you are here.”

“Me too! I don’t know why I let you convince me that it would take too long to get here. The train ride flew by and we shouldn’t let distance keep us apart for too long.”

“My priorities were upside down. I just needed to get my head back on straight. I’m allowed to have fun and take some time for myself.”

“Yes, you are!” The two women were a little early for their reservation but had given their name to the hostess. They moved closer to the door as a few tables had been seated. Charlotte had wished she had brought a heavier coat, but didn’t expect the weather to take this cooler turn. “I think I know him.”

“Who?” Charlotte asked as she started peering towards where Alison was pointing.

“The man across the street, next to the light pole with the brown coat on,” Alison described the man as Charlotte finally found who she was talking about. Charlotte looked at the guy as he slowly turned in the light. He looked familiar to her, which was strange since her and Alison didn’t travel in the same circles. Suddenly, she saw him wave towards them and realized Alison was waving this man over. As he got closer, Charlotte realized quickly who he was, it was Mark. Suddenly, a wave of nervousness came over her and she had an urge to bite her nails. _I have to stop that bad habit. Everything is okay. Sidney may not even be with him,_ she thought to herself. 

It seemed as soon as she finished having that thought, Sidney appeared with a man with messy dark hair. Her heart started beating faster as he walked closer to her. His focus was solely on his phone. Sidney’s hair was a bit of a mess too and it looked like he hadn’t shaved in a couple of days. He was wearing dark jeans with a maroon button-up shirt that wasn’t tucked in. He had been smart enough to wear a coat. He was within a couple of feet of her when the sound of Alison’s voice broke the focus he had on his phone.

“Mark!” Alison exclaimed, “It’s so good to see you.”

Mark and Alison hugged like they were old friends.

“This is a nice surprise. This is Crowe and Sidney.” Mark noticed that Sidney hadn’t seen Charlotte yet.

“I don’t think you’ve met my sister, Charlotte,” Alison said smiling as she pushed Charlotte closer to where Sidney was standing.

Sidney looked up from his phone to see that he was standing directly in front of Charlotte. He speedily put his phone away, not wanting her to see that he had been looking up her work address. He gazed at her for a moment with his mouth slightly agape. She looked ravishing. The black dress she was wearing was tight and lower cut than anything he had seen her in before. She wore a light white sweater over it. She was wearing her hair down in long curls. The light of the restaurant sign shined on her like she had been sent from above. He felt like the breath had been knocked right out of him.

“Hello, Charlotte,” Sidney finally found himself able to speak.

“Hi, Sidney.” She stared into his eyes, but after a minute directed her gaze at Mark. She suddenly realized that she had been upset he didn’t call. She liked the guy and she wanted him to. There was nothing wrong with that. The combination of the irritation she currently felt with him and the desire she had to rip off his clothes right then and there made for a dangerous situation. “It’s nice to meet you, Mark. I’ve heard so much about you.”

“I have heard a lot about you too.” Mark took her hand and kissed it.

“Aren’t you the charmer?” She replied as she took her hand back. Sidney eyed Mark in a way that made him take a couple of steps backwards.

“Me? Nope, not at all.” Mark said. He had never seen his friend seem so flustered and wanted to tease him, but now wasn’t the time.

“Are you guys having dinner here too?” Alison asked.

“No, we don’t have reservations,” Sidney replied.

“No, that would mean you would have to pick up the phone,” Charlotte said with a smirk on her face.

Sidney stood closer to Charlotte until she could almost feel his body pressing against hers.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered into her ear, the heat of his breath warming her neck. His lips lightly grazed her earlobe as he pulled away.

“As you should be,” she replied quietly, their faces only an inch away from each other. She wanted to kiss him but pushed that feeling aside.

Alison and Mark stood by observing the two of them. Alison thought about how hot this would be if she was watching it on TV, and it wasn’t her sister. Their chemistry was undeniable.

“Why don’t we see if we can add the guys to the reservation?” Alison suggested. There was no way that she would let her sister get in the way of her own happiness.

“Even though I would love to stay here and witness whatever this dinner is going to turn into,” Crowe said swirling his hand around. “I have to go. I have been summoned. It was nice to meet you ladies. I’ll see you guys later.”

Crowe was gone in a blink of an eye. Alison and Mark went to the hostess to attempt to bribe her into getting a table for four. Sidney and Charlotte stood off to the side.

“Am I in trouble?” Sidney asked Charlotte in a demure manner.

“I don’t know, are you?”

He knew he was definitely in trouble. She was trouble. He hadn’t been expecting someone like her to show up in his life and now here she was causing uproar in him that made him feel out of control. He liked the way she made him feel and wanted to surrender all of himself to her. All he cared about was being hers.


	9. Taking Chances

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Thanks for all the comments. Let's get back to these two crazy lovebirds. Have a great Monday!

“And then Charlotte was just out there wading in the water with no clothes on as the police spotlight searched the water. You should have seen the look on her face when the light finally hit her. It was the funniest thing I have ever seen.” Alison was laughing so hard that she started leaning towards Mark’s shoulder.

“You’re just lucky that I didn’t end up arrested. Dad would have killed us.” Charlotte let out a small giggle and took a sip of her drink. She and Alison had so many fun memories. It had been so long since they had sat down and reminisced. “I don’t think we need to tell anymore crazy stories about our small town Saturday night escapades.”

“I actually like hearing them. I mean I could never have imagined you going skinny dipping.” Sidney actually delighted in the thought. He grinned at her with a twinkle in his eye. “You probably made their night.”

“Oh, I doubt that.” She swirled the black plum-colored liquid around her wine glass before taking a sip. The tart flavor of the drink awakened her taste buds.

“Would you ladies like to join us for some drinks at Bailey’s pub down the road?” Mark asked as the waiter placed down the check. Sidney reached for it before anyone else could grab it.

“You don’t need to do that,” Charlotte said as she reached for her purse.”We were-“

“Don’t worry about it. We crashed your ladies night. It’s the least I can do. I know how much you had missed your sister.” Sidney slid his card into the bill presenter. Charlotte appreciated that he had remembered her speaking of her relationship with Alison.

“I would love to go for some drinks. That’s okay, right Charlotte?” Alison asked without waiting for a reply. She was too wrapped up in a conversation with Mark. The two of them were getting a little too close in Charlotte’s opinion, but she wasn’t her sister’s keeper.

The foursome made their way outside and strolled towards the pub. Mark and Alison were walking several feet ahead of Sidney and Charlotte. Even though the weather was colder than normal, the night sky was beautiful and clear. It had been awhile since Charlotte had been out this late. She felt like an idiot for not living her life for the past several months. 

“I am sorry, Charlotte.” Sidney grasped her arm and stopped her on the sidewalk. “I really did mean to call. It was a work thing, and it took up more time than I expected.”

“A work thing?” Charlotte tried not to frown. Sidney knew instantly where her mind was going.

“Not that kind of work thing! I told you I’m not doing that anymore. I just had to clean up Crowe’s mess which led to more issues. I didn’t know about any three-day rule.” Sidney explained.

Charlotte could hear the sincerity in Sidney’s voice. It made butterflies suddenly appear in her stomach. There would be no reason to keep apologizing unless he did truly feel something for her. 

“It’s completely fine, Sidney. We are friends, right? I forgive you.” The moment the word ‘friends’ slipped out of her mouth she wanted to take it back. She didn’t want him to think that is how she defined them. She didn’t know where this relationship would even go, but she didn’t want to shoot down the chance at exploring what could be.

“Friends,” He smiled faintly and nodded. “It’s too cold out here for you to be walking to a pub without a jacket.”

Sidney took off his coat and wrapped it around Charlotte. The light smell of his cologne surrounded her. It was the same scent he had worn in Sanditon. She could feel the light touch of his hand on the small of her back as they started walking again. She filled the silence with small talk about some of the buildings in the area. He listened to her every word and would randomly add his own trivial facts.

They made it to the pub. Mark and Alison headed straight to the bar. Charlotte wondered for a moment if those two even remembered that they were with other people. Sidney found a small table in the back corner and signaled Charlotte over. She took off his coat and placed it over the back of a chair. 

“Do you know what you want to drink?” Charlotte asked Sidney as she also removed her sweater. The pub was pretty busy for a Thursday night. “Just a whiskey?”

“That sounds good,” Sidney replied. “I can get it.”

“That’s okay, I got it.” Charlotte grabbed a card and headed to the bar where Alison and Mark were standing.

Sidney watched her squeeze her way through the crowd and noticed how a couple of other sets of male eyes were also admiring her. He could tell she was oblivious to how others looked at her. She leaned on the bar as she told the barkeeper her order. He was thankful for his current vantage point and just how well that black dress fit her. After a few minutes, she was back at the table with their drinks. She sat in the hard wooden chair beside Sidney.

“Mark and Alison will not be joining us. They are debating music with some young kid who doesn’t realize what he is in for.” Charlotte said as she handed Sidney his drink. “They seem like old friends. It’s odd.”

“Not really. I mean they’ve known each other for awhile.”

“Alison told me they only went out the one time. She had hired him for a wedding last year.”

“Really?” Sidney raised an eyebrow and smirked before taking a sip of his whiskey.

“You know something!” Charlotte exclaimed.

“I don’t know anything.”

“You stepped into this mess and you aren’t going to get out of it now.” Charlotte nudged his shoulder.

“I really don’t know much. He doesn’t talk about it," he suddenly had a devilish grin on his face "Let’s just say that you aren’t the Moaning Myrtle in your family.”

“What?” Charlotte leaned into him and in a low voice continued, “First of all, I don’t moan, at least not loudly enough to earn a nickname.”

“Sure,” Sidney said watching as Charlotte’s eyebrows started to squinch up.

“Secondly, you can’t call me the name of some Harry Potter character. I don’t know if I’m more offended by the fact that now that name will be related to sex for me or the fact that you told me something about my sister I never needed to know.” Charlotte shuddered and took a large drink of her black velvet.

“I’ve never read Harry Potter, so I can’t be blamed for that. In regard to Alison, I didn’t know it was your sister. I had never met her. I just knew her name and that Mark had mentioned her several times.” Sidney thought of a weekend getaway a few months back. “Hotels need to invest in thicker walls.”

“I don’t even know where to start with that,” Charlotte just shook her head and slowly her mouth formed a sly smile. Charlotte thought about all the times Alison bugged her about her love life and now she was hiding this type of secret. “This should be a fun weekend. “

“I had nothing to do with this.”

“Oh, Sidney Parker, you just come in and stir up all kinds of trouble.” Charlotte smiled just as a drunken patron started falling towards her. Sidney grabbed the seat of her chair and pulled it towards him. The force of the pull made her fall into Sidney. He grabbed her to prevent her from completely falling into his lap. She pushed herself up.

“Thank you,” she said as she pushed her hair back behind her ears. She tilted her head towards his. “Back to this Moaning Myrtle nonsense, let’s not forget that I wasn’t the only one who was enjoying myself.”

Sidney bit his lower lip and took another drink of whiskey. _She isn’t lying_ , he thought.

The two of them fell into easy conversation. Sidney told her all about the tech work that he and Mark were currently working on. He told her about the screw up with the app and his phone crashing. They talked about their common love of bad movies. Not a movie that was just bad, but a truly awful movie that you could usually find late at night on some random channel nobody had ever heard of. She told him all about her love of nature and museums. They moved from subject to subject with no lull in the conversation. They had lost track of Alison and Mark along the way. Before they knew it, the sun was coming up.

“What time is it?” Charlotte started searching for her phone. She finally felt it at the bottom of her purse. She had a couple of missed calls from Alison and a couple of texts. Getting the truth out of Alison about her relationship with Mark would be easier than she expected. It was just after 6 a.m.

“I need to get going. I wasn’t expecting to stay out so late. We have tickets to the museum in a few hours.” Charlotte said as she put on her sweater. She handed Sidney his coat.

“Are you sure you don’t need it?” He asked.

“No, I’m good. Thank you though,” Charlotte replied. Their fingertips lightly touched as he took the coat from her hand.

Sidney put his coat back on and they walked out of the pub. As they stood outside the front door, Mark and Alison made their way up the sidewalk. Alison was straightening out her clothes, and Charlotte could tell she purposely steeped sideways an extra foot to avoid being so close to Mark. She looked like she knew she had been caught doing something she shouldn’t.

“I’ll make sure to keep him away from her for the rest of the weekend. You can be uninterrupted.” Sidney said as he watched the two of them walk towards them.

“I appreciate that.”

Mark and Alison finally got within earshot of them.

“Fun night?” Charlotte inquired.

“We just went to another pub down the way,” Alison said before turning to Mark. “It was so nice to see you again.”

Charlotte and Sidney gave each other a knowing look.

“Yes, and Charlotte it was nice to meet you.” Mark stated.

“Definitely,” Charlotte nodded and smiled and then turned to Sidney. “Until next time.”

“Until next time,” Sidney and Charlotte beamed at each other. Neither of them wanted to walk away from each other.

“Let’s go. I’m tired.” Alison said as she yanked Charlotte to move.

Charlotte and Alison headed one way down the street as Sidney and Mark headed in the opposite direction. Sidney turned to look back at Charlotte. Had he let his gaze linger for a moment longer, he would have seen her also turn around to get one last glimpse of him.

Charlotte and Alison were able to jam in a couple of hours of sleep before they headed out for their day. They were both exhausted from the night before, but somehow between the coffee and laughter they shared, they found enough energy to make it through the museums and a late lunch. They decided that they would stay in and watch a couple of movies. Charlotte ordered some food for delivery and they both put on some sweats. Alison poured two glasses of wine and walked over to Charlotte who was sitting on her oversized couch.

Alison took a sip and let out a sigh.

“What?” Charlotte asked. Her sister looked like she was impatiently waiting on something.

“Ask me,” Alison replied.

“Ask you what?” Charlotte raised an eyebrow to her and played innocent.

“I know you know,” she stared at her sister. “I wasn’t too sly last night.”

“That you were not,” Charlotte laughed. “I think I know him? You seriously said that to me. Why didn’t you tell me? I thought you said you never slept with him.”

“I wasn’t going to tell you that I hired some man and then slept with him. You definitely wouldn’t have called him then.” Alison took another drink of wine. “It isn’t serious. We strictly have fun. We went to the wedding and enjoyed each other’s company. “

“Have you come to London to see him before?” Charlotte asked. She hoped her sister hadn’t been in town without her knowing.

“Never! Last night was a totally random encounter. I didn’t even tell him I was going to be in town.” Alison explained. “We’ve only hooked up a few times. There was the wedding, then there were a couple of times he was visiting some family that wasn’t too far from Willingden. I met him at his hotel.”

“Oh,” Charlotte didn’t know what to say.

“Look Charlotte, I know what I’m getting with him. Good conversation and no strings attached sex. It’s a lot better than anything I have found in Willingden.”

“I just care about you and want to make sure you don’t get hurt,” Charlotte said.

“I won’t. I’m not like you Charlotte. You know that. We have always been different when it comes to stuff like this. I can have a good time without getting attached,” Alison took Charlotte’s hand. “I am not saying that in any negative way. You long for that connection and for that forever type of love, and that is beautiful.”

“I do,” Charlotte groaned. “I’ve read too many romance novels!”

Charlotte dropped her head on the back of the couch and let out a long sigh.

“There is nothing wrong with reading romance novels, but maybe something wrong with reading the amount that you have. You should be in the Guinness Book of World Records or something.”

Charlotte grabbed the throw pillow on the couch and hit Alison with it. “Oh, shut it!”

“You are going to make me spill my wine!” Alison laughed. “So do you want to talk about Sidney?”

“Can we not?” Charlotte grabbed the television remote off of her coffee table. “Let’s just put on a movie and forget about men for a few hours.”

“I can drink to that!”

Sidney kept his promise and made sure Mark didn’t contact Alison all weekend. He knew their relationship wasn’t significant, but Mark had come to fancy her a bit more than other clients. Saturday and Sunday felt like they had dragged on forever. He wanted to see Charlotte and he now had two good excuses to. He never thought he would wake up on a Monday morning and be so thankful for his brother.

He was leaning on the kitchen counter finishing his cup of coffee while scrolling through the latest tech headlines. He wanted to make sure he got to her office at the perfect time especially since it was a Monday.

“Hey,” Mark said, sounding groggy. It was too early for him to be out of bed.

“Good morning!” Sidney said cheerfully.

“You are very chipper this morning. Did I miss something?” Mark said as he searched the cabinets for his coffee mug.

“I’m going to go to Charlotte’s office today, and I’m going to ask her to lunch.”

“Finally, making your move,” Mark’s face lit up slightly at the sight of his mug. “Good for you.”

“Yeah, I don’t know what the hell I am doing, but I’m going for it,” Sidney said. “I like her Mark. I like her a lot. I don’t want to screw it up.”

“Sidney, you aren’t going to screw anything up. I don’t want to get sappy or anything, but you’re a good guy and she’ll be lucky to have you.” Mark patted Sidney’s back before pouring some cream into his mug. 

“I know that this is a dumb question, but she said we were friends the other day. Do you think she was friend-zoning me?”

Mark started laughing uncontrollably.

“A blind person could see how much you guys are into each other. She is not friend-zoning you. I mean has any woman ever friend-zoned you?”

“I don’t care about other women. I just care about her.”

“My advice to you is to take it slow. Get to know her. Romance her. The best relationships are built out of friendship.”

“Thanks.”

“No problem.”

Sidney washed out his mug and set it to the side of the sink to dry. He felt ridiculous when he thought of how excited he was to go see her.

The morning had gone by fast as usual. Mondays were always hectic, but instead of having her normal more pessimistic attitude, Charlotte was happy. The weekend had been a blast. Alison visiting was just what she needed to firmly kick her out of the funk she had been in. After the weekend in Sanditon and now the weekend with her sister, she didn’t know what would happen if she had a third amazing weekend. She may end up a whole new person.

She was even more shocked when she came into the office to find that the survey for Tom was already done, and just needed to be reviewed. She just had to wait on the court to decide if the deed restrictions could be lifted, and then Tom could get back to finishing off his project. Everything seemed to be going to plan.

She deleted the last email that was in her inbox and felt pretty proud of herself. She adjusted the volume of her airpods when her favorite song came on. It was a love song that she always got lost in. All at once, Sidney’s face popped in her head. She glanced out of her office to make sure nobody was around and then quickly googled the name ‘Sidney Parker’. Charlotte would be lying if she didn’t admit that she was curious about his background. She also would be lying if she didn’t admit that she wanted to see his face.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t much she could find. She found an old social media account that he hadn’t posted to for several years. There were a few photos of him with Tom that were also old. They were from when the last hotel opened. She finally found a picture Mary had posted. _Am I being a stalker? Is it being stalkerish when it is your friend you are looking up?,_ she asked herself. He had such a great smile. She was taken with the photo and wondered if she was this transparent when she was actually with him. She was allowing her thoughts to wander into not so PG territory when she suddenly felt like someone was watching her. She looked up and saw Sidney standing in the doorway. She ripped the airpods out of her ears.

“Are you busy? You look busy; I can come back,” he said smiling.

She felt her face turning red and quickly tried closing the screen. The window wouldn’t close and Sidney’s face on the computer just kept staring back at her.

“No, I’m good. I’m just trying to get this stupid thing to close out,” she said, “You know how computers are.”

“Do you need my help?” He started walking towards her.

“No, no. I got it.” The screen finally closed just as he was coming around her desk. She let out an audible breath and hoped he hadn’t seen anything.

“What were you looking at? It seems like you were doing something naughty on the company computer.” Sidney teased. It was obvious she was flustered.

“I wasn’t doing any such thing.” she straightened out her black skirt, brushed back her hair, and then put a big smile on her face. “How can I help you?”

“I’m here for a few things,” he said, “May I sit down?”

“Yes, of course, do you need water or anything?” She walked to the small fridge on the other side of her office and grabbed a cold bottle of water.

“I’m good, but thanks.”

Charlotte drank the water quickly and then calmed her breath before walking back over and sitting in the chair beside him that was in front of her desk.

“So, how can I help you?”

“Well, as I said I am here for a few things,” Sidney stated “First, I forgot to get your number the other night. As I told you, my old phone didn’t transfer it over.”

“I guess I can give that to you,” she teased. “I think I know the second thing.”

“You do?”

“Yes, the ball your brother is throwing in two weeks. You need me to be your date?”

“Do I need you, or do you need me?”

“I think we know it is beneficial for both of us. It is a mutual needing type of situation.”

“I spoke to Tom about it this morning. He is thrilled to have an event to focus on. He loves soirees like this. Hopefully, he can raise the money he needs.”

“I’m sure he will. The survey was just done, and I expect the court to release the deed restrictions for the clifftop land. He will be on his way to seeing his dream achieved.” Charlotte knew this was a touchy subject for Sidney and tried not to be too happy about the fact that she was getting everything done so quickly.

“You worked hard on that. I’m sure he is grateful.”

“Honestly, it wasn’t hard. I just don’t think Edward was focused.” Charlotte placed her hand on his forearm. “I’m sorry. I know you don’t want him to build up there.”

“It’s okay, truly. I have my own professional and personal activities to focus on. The launch of the new app is happening soon,”

“I am sure that is going to be fantastic,” Charlotte said. “So, what is the last thing?”

“The last thing?”

“Yes, you said you had a few things to discuss,”

“Yes, I did,” Sidney could feel his hands getting clammy. “Do you want to go to lunch?”

“Are you asking me on a date?” Charlotte asked nervously.

“Do you want me to ask you on a date?” Sidney responded.

“I want to know your intent here,” Charlotte said boldly.

“If we want to get technical this would be our third date, actually fourth if you want to count our lunch on the way to Sanditon,” Sidney said matter of factly.

“I think if you want to get technical, Mr. Parker, this would be our first,” Charlotte couldn’t help but smile.

“I paid for the other ones,” Sidney pronounced.

“It doesn’t matter who paid, and I prefer dates where family isn’t around,” she said. “Plus, it’s the intent behind the date that matters.”

“I want to take a beautiful woman to lunch with the intent to see where this thing between us goes,” Sidney said shyly. He could tell by the look on Charlotte’s face that this was exactly what she wanted to hear and he could feel his heart start to gain speed.

“That is exactly what I hoped you would say.” Charlotte said trying not to smile like a smitten fool.


End file.
